That children have access to a mobile phone and apps like TikTok from a young age This is something that worries a lot in USA.. Experts are strict in their recommendations and in more and more schools and institutes this is regulated. At the national level, a major law is expected that will require, among other things, raising the minimum age for access to the main platforms.
TikTok is the most used social network in USA and in much of the world. It is of Chinese origin and, curiously, in his home country it is not as regulated. Plus, an expert on the subject explains how local government is looking the other way. The reason? Money.
No censorship of TikTok content, no concern for young people
Angela Zhang recently published a book called “High Wire” in which she analyzes, among other things, the position and situation of China on different fronts and especially on technology. A book that the author foresees as controversial and for this reason has not been translated into Chinese.
And Zhang is a voice authorized to speak on these issuessince she is a professor at the University of Hong Kong and a specialist in technological regulations by the Chinese government. He spoke about it in an interview with El País.
“Chinese developers use psychology to get users hooked”
Zhang is asked why Chinese apps like TikTok are so addictive and he gives a very interesting and, to some extent, predictable answer. He basically claims that the apps are really good and points to the vastness of the Chinese population as the best test bed, the way engineers dedicate themselves to the development process and use psychological tools to know how to make an app more addictive.
It was precisely at this moment that the Western concerns about the situation in China. While in countries like USA we try to regulate its use, in China there is very strict regulation. light. First, because, as here, minors can access it without much difficulty despite the fact that there are barriers that should prevent it.
However, what most catches our attention in the expert’s statements is that Far from regulating them, in China they encourage. To do this, he talks about Douyin, which is the Chinese version of TikTok and which we had always heard was much “cleaner”. Basically, it was said that government censorship prevented certain content from being published. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Angela Zhang tells El País that the government’s strict control over content is not true. Far from it, he assures that They promote viral videos even though they are bad for teens. The excuse is none other than to monetize it. In the end, skin is skin and the Chinese also want to make money, even if it is in such a… dubious way.
There are also clues about what Apple needs to do to get its AI there.
Less than a month ago we heard about Apple Intelligence, which is nothing more than the set of artificial intelligence models that Apple will begin to implement with iOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia. These functions, which will promote, among other things, a new and powerful Siri, will initially be limited to American English.
To land in China, a key market for any technology company, it will be necessary to wait longer and, above all, to bring in a Chinese partner with whom they are already negotiating. This requirement to be accompanied by a Chinese company is fundamental for all services based on laws, as we already see with streaming.
Angela Zhang spoke about the ChatGPT case and revealed the other big obstacle to these services reaching China: government control. The expert talks about China’s transparency laws that essentially force companies like OpenAI to give up virtually all data in their system, which would obviously expose industrial and technological secrets.
OpenAI does not seem willing to take this risk, as Zhang points out and the company’s actions also demonstrate. It is likely that for the same reasons, Apple does not want to go through this or at least has to limit its systems so as not to reveal secrets that, without a doubt, could be compromising.
Cover Image | Montage with Image by GoodFon
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