My digital footprint and experience with TikTok fake news

In class, Professor Smith asked what social media we use and everyone raised their hands when asked if we had TikTok. I spend lots of my free time scrolling TikTok, sending videos to friends, and getting many opinions, news, and pop culture from the app. TikTok was a new app that gained popularity during the beginning of COVID-19 in  2020 and was primarily dancing videos. Today most companies have TikTok, News companies post news video clips, influencers promote brands, and doctors make informative videos. 

How much fake news do we believe that we see on TikTok? Manipulated videos and edits are common on the app. Many young individuals see these videos and believe what they hear based on who is influencing them. The app's algorithm is also targeted towards these audiences who are susceptible to believing the news based on their interest. 

An example of a time when fake news quickly spread on TikTok was when a video surfaced that someone edited, sharing a news story claiming CNN posted that climate change was seasonal. spoiler alert- people believed it! Fake news such as this enables young people to be spreading false information on the internet instead of getting their information through valid news sources. 

My experience with fake news on TikTok

During the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial, lots of videos of what was going on in the courtroom where surfacing on Tiktok so people did not have to watch the entire thing. I personally watched a lot of this trial via TikTok, and saw a video of actor Jason Mamoa taking the stand via zoom in the courtroom. This video was of Mamoa using profanity and talking about funny stories of him working with Amber Heard on the set of Aquaman. 

This entire video was fake. Someone had photoshopped the video into the courtroom and Jason Mamoa never testified in this case. Myself and others thought this was real for months because we did not do our research on other platforms that are more reliable. 

My experiences with fake news on TikTok have shaped the way I use my apps and get my news sources. My digital footprint is definitely similar to other young adults my age. I make TikToks, post on Instagram and follow all of my friends. Through our learnings in class this semster, my main takeaway about my digital footprint is that I need to start evaluating what kind of apps I am getting, and how I am using media to get my information. 

Group 3- Telephone

 

Group 3 did their in class com tech presentation on communication. These inventions included the telephone, the I pod, Netflix and the telegraph. I never knew much about the start of these forms of communication and innovations, and group 3 was very informative in teaching them. 

The telephone's first call was made in Boston, Massachusetts. I was not aware of this and always thought it was international. The “Bell Telephone Company” was the first company and it was also founded in Boston, paving the way for many other companies to come after it. 

AT&T stands for “American Telephone and Telegraph Co which held the patents for not just the telephones but also the equipment that was needed to create the products. This made AT&T a powerhouse of the telephone that held a lot of the power in the 1800s. AT&T controlled over 85 percent of the industry until the 1980s, so it was a powerhouse for almost 100 years. In 1982, AT&T had to disperse its company and break it up into 5 different sectors, which have since begun to merge back together. 

Today most people have either a Samsung or Apple Phone, with a touchscreen and a multitude of apps. Some miss the simplicity of the older phones where you had to remember peoples phone numbers and pick up the phone to call them. 

Still today the major phone companies include AT&T, Verizon and just a few other smaller service providers. I remember when I was younger and my mom had a Verizon flip phone called the razor. I thought it was the coolest thing ever until the IPhone by Apple came out and now, its all I know how to use, and I can't imagine life without it. 

The age of AI

 “We like to think of America as the land of opportunity” as stated by the documentary “The Age of AI”. AI unfortunately is taking over this concept because automation is taking over labor jobs. In this documentary, surveillance capitalism along with concepts regarding the scary truth of Artificial intelligence are discussed. 

Some things that surprised me about AI that I learned from this documentary is that its not just the things you put online that gets your information out. We always think about our “digital footprint” and are advised about how and what we post on the internet, but even if you have never posted online but have a car, a cell phone and have done a simple web search, your information is out there. 

Some positive aspects discussed about AI in this documentary are AI’s ability to complete complex algorithms that would otherwise take humans a very long time. Benefits like this will skyrocket our ability to know more about the world we live in, contribute to science and math and other exciting advances in technology. 

Our privacy is ruined as we know it. There is no escaping the technology and AI and how it is being used because it is in everything we do. This documentary also touches on the future of wealth for high tech companies, because they are now able to sell our information like never before. 

Online security is also another threat to us. What we put out in the world is no longer the only way our information is stolen. Choosing providers and companies we trust with our information is going to be a vital aspect in our future. 

With more and more I learn about AI, I feel like I am living in a Black Mirror episode. The Age of AI documentary scared me, informed me, and rattled my beliefs about the pros and cons of artificial intelligence and how I will use it.

False Flag

 

A false flag is a tactic and type of deception when a country or group carries out an operation against their own side, in order to blame it on the other. False flags aim to accomplish two things, create sympathy for their side, and justification for war. False flags typically utilize some sort of violence or destruction such as an explosion, or terrorist attack. 

Sympathy is created when one side gets attacked, and other countries they are allies with come to their rescue. Also it creates a sense of propaganda towards the attacked countries citizens with a feeling of fear. The term “false flag” originated from naval warfare and is the idea that enemy ships used to fly the other countries flag in order to deceive them, then plan for attack. 

When researching this topic, I found a lot of  articles surrounding the concept that the United States has often used false flags in order to be able to start a war. There is not much evidence surrounding the fact that any of the U.S’s alleged false flag attacks were real. This is often a controversial topic that is not carried by U.S news outlets, and are considered “conspiracies”. 

Some allegations that have been made regarding the United States involvement in false flag attacks include the following conspiracies such as Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964), Operation Northwoods (1962) and 9/11 Attacks (2001). 

The Gulf of Tonkin incident was an event that incited the Vietnam War where the United States claimed that Vietnam attacked their battleships. It has been suggested that this was a false flag attack in order to justify military intervention in Vietnam. 

Operation Northwoods was a non carried out military false flag plan proposed by the United States that aimed to commit attacks and blame them on Cuba. Because this plan was not carried out, it came out to the public in the 90s and became declassified information. This is a reason a lot of conspiracy theorists believe that the United States has carried out a lot of false flag attacks that are classified. 

The 9/11 attacks in 2001 occurred when the terrorist group, al-Qaeda hijacked planes and flew them into the Twin Tower buildings in New York City. There has been a lot of conspiracy surrounding these attacks and if it was a false flag attack carried out in order to have justification to killing the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden. 

Though these theories are often talked about, they lack evidence and the general population may never know the real truth about them. One example of a confirmed false flag operation is the Gleiwitz incident (1939). This operation was carried out just before the start of WWII, where German military members dressed like Polish soldiers and attacked a German radio station. This operation was part of a plan of Germany wanting to invade Poland.

Whos Privacy is it?

 How seriously do you take your personal privacy? I was asked this question by a friend of mine when I was submitting a DNA sample for a company called 23 and me that gives ancestry and health information. I was aware of the implications of this company having my DNA, and information about who I am and where I come from, but I didn't realize how many other ways my privacy and information is out in the open. 

The TED talks we were instructed to watch provide details of different ways our privacy and information is given to companies and the government without our knowledge. One of the overarching themes of these TED talks was mass surveillance disrupting our privacy. The talk given by Juan Enriquez compares our online presence to a tattoo because of how permanent it is. How we let our information get out is like an electronic tattoo. 

The talk given by Cathrine Crump talks about how data companies collect using surveillance using all kinds of data, and location information. One of the examples was that the government can use your car to track where you go. They can know information like if you go to church and where you shop.  Cell phone companies give wiretapping information to the government as well. 

The big question is does this violate our rights? The answer, unfortunately, is no. When we sign up for apps, buy cell phones and use certain providers, we sign away certain rights to these companies. We have to be extremely careful and decide what information we are ok with giving out when checking the “I agree to the terms and services” box at the bottom of an agreement. 

The third party doctrine states that if we check these boxes that say we agree to the terms, essentially the government and these companies can do what they want with our information. In this day and age of technology people have less privacy than ever, and are far less protected against government searches. 

Next time you get an app or sign up for something, read the terms of service and decide if it is worth giving up that right.

Burying the Antiwar Message

 Antiwar.com and The American Conservative are websites that provide alternative perspectives on current events and foreign policy. Writers on these websites have strong anti war beliefs, which are not common in the mainstream media. I think the reason websites such as antiwar.com and The American Conservative are pushing out this anti-war narrative and major news sources are not is due to multiple factors.  

My first assumption is that major news sources such as Fox and CNN have biases and agendas towards certain narratives that do not align with their core ways of distribution of information. Antiwar voices are not as effective as the distribution of news surrounding war and what is going on with foreign affairs that attract a larger audience. News outlets tend to focus on news that their audience is interested in. Fox news leans more conservative because of their audience, and CNN more liberal. 

Big news outlets also have connections with government entities. These government entities are almost never antiwar, therefore they will not be advocating for the protest or the coverage of anti war dialogue. The government also might not want to push out information advocating against war, when they are involved in the progression of it.  The last time antiwar was covered in the mainstream media and covered by news outlets was in the 1960s. Antiwar protests were a major part of this era's identity and activation of the “hippie” movement that is forever iconic. 

Another reason for the possible lack of antiwar coverage is that when bad things are going on in the world, they are more likely to be covered on air by big news outlets than people discussing why war is bad. I feel as though there should be specific segments and portions of the news dedicated to these different kinds of perspectives on war to give the audience more educated information. 

The Typewriter

 During our class presentations, a classmate dove into the history of the typewriter and its rich history. In 1575 the idea of the typewriter was invented by Italian printmaker, Francesco Rampazetto. He came up with a device called the “scrittura tattile” that was invented to assist the blind. It was round and had nail-like keys sticking out of the top with letters on it, kind of like braille. This was not very functional for how the hands typed, therefore it began to change and evolve. 

There is a lot of speculation over who the actual inventor of the typewriter was, but we know around 1808 is when it was invented and brought to life. In the early days of the typewriter, it was considered rare to own one. 

In 1868 the typewriter was patented in America and the first publicly used typewriter was pushed out, the Remmington typewriter. The keys were in alphabetical order on the first typewriter and had strings that came out of the top. 

As time went on and technology advanced, the typewriter got smaller, more functional and more commonly used. The arrangement of letters we use today ended up on the typewriters and the keys got easier to press. 

When I was younger I thought the coolest thing ever was to have a typewriter. I now value the electronic keyboard and am so lucky that technology has advanced in this way. Typewriters are expensive and time consuming, with the use of ink and jamming up of keys. You also had to type with your pointer fingers! 

What people love about typewriters is the nostalgic feeling of clicking the keys and seeing the fresh ink hit the paper. Making a mistake may mean nothing to us when writing a paper on a laptop, because we can just delete it in the blink of an eye. With the typewriter every mistake was an error that affected the way that paper looked after you had to white-out the mistake. Part of me wonders if we would be better at the English language, grammar and spelling and more cautious about what we say if we knew we couldn't just press “delete”.

Today not many people use typewriters, but some still enjoy the look of them and collect them for their homes. The price of typewriters has gone up because they are now considered “vintage” and “collectables”. Maybe investing in a typewriter is a good idea!