this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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Privacy

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216
Teen Mental Health App Sent Kids' Data Straight to TikTok (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 months ago by Blaze@lemmy.zip to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 33 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Teen Mental Health App Sent Kid's Data Straight to (cue red menace) TikTok

Ahem....

was leaking data about who visited the website to TikTok, Meta, Snap, and other social media companies

I'm no Sinophobe, I do think there's a point to be made about social media data harvesting and mainlining it to ANY government, and that the CCP is definitely not a government I would trust with open access to all my digital doings. That headline is patently fucking ridiculous click-bait fear mongering, there's numerous US politicians on record saying that privacy concerns have nothing to do with their torch and pitchfork agenda re:TikTok, and the line I quoted above is in the first 1-3 paragraphs. The reality is that corporate/government owned social media has only a few uses:

  • mass collection of data for surveillance, profiling individuals for profit or
  • as the ProPublica piece on the NSSF and Cambridge Analytics VoteGun operation highlights, manipulation of people through profiling to push political agendas and tamper with elections

I'll edit this with a link to the article in a few minutes.

Edit: https://www.propublica.org/article/guns-lobbying-cambridge-analytica-nssf-privacy-elections

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Excellent analysis, the headline buries the real story.

These corporate parasites are using contract law to override actual law and daddy Sam let's them.

If you don't protect yourself, they will take you for a ride folks.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You feeling ok bud? This is waaaay out of character for you. I've not seen you not shit post....ever!

In seriousness though. We've been shown what they're doing time and again, and they've greased enough palms and swallowed enough spooge that they only ever get a "cost of business" slap on the wrist, and chiding tut.

"Ah ah ah, mind we spoke about not showing the sheep what we're doing. I'd like to go to the Bahamas next week, all inclusive, see you at the shareholders meeting in April."

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

🐸

Real change will happen when we hit critical mass of people understanding thats how these thing work.

So much work to be done!

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think the majority knows, but can they be fucked to do anything about it?

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

can they be fucked to do anything about it?

Historycally there is a break point but if they wait that long... We are well done frogs on president Musk's plate.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, historically. We're already close, but at what point do the rabid supporters have enough of being ground beneath the heel? And is there enough opposition that's not apathetic to shift the balance?

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 months ago

No idea... We all here agree we are getting fucked but there is 30-50% of the adult population who think first lady trump is fighting for them. Not much can be done until this base turns on him.

He is flooding the zone, which is having adverse consequences for some of them. I am sure fed workers bring harassed into resigning got to start wondering if that vote was wise.

But even if we get kamala today, it aitn like thats W for the plebs, just a slower fuckening.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 29 points 2 months ago (3 children)

We are calling websites "apps" now?

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 months ago

everything is an app now.

thanks, steve jerbs.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

They kinda are

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Only in the sense that most apps are just a slightly modified web site where they're able to track way more of how you're interacting with it and also scrape all the data on your phone...

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

No, I was talking in the sense that most websites are just JavaScript apps, rather than served HTML as Tim intended.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

👍 thanks for the clarification

[–] threshold_dweller@lemmy.today 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sir Tim to us plebes.

[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sir Tim to us plebes

You mean the idiot who advocated for DRM on the web? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encrypted_Media_Extensions

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, that is Sir Tim.

[–] heavydust@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not without a honorable behavior.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

"Sir" only means he was knighted. That's all.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

Why not? Many websites are more complex than many desktop or mobile applications, so if a website does more than just render a blog or something, I think "app" qualified. Tiktok is certainly a web application, or webapp.

[–] ShareMySims@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Seriously, I know it's tempting because most of us have no other options available, but please - be careful when you trust your mental health to one of these "drive through" therapists (if they even are that, I remember a story a little while ago about how the apps don't actually vet the therapists and their credentials, and I'm also certain that a bunch of them are now simply AI. As well as, of course, their being for profit and having access to your most personal and sensitive data and information), especially if you have an actual mental health illness and or are otherwise neurodiverse. Believe me when I tell you that in some cases no therapy is better than bad therapy (that doesn't mean you stop looking for the right kind of help, but settling for the wrong kind can do a lot of damage both short and long term).