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So far, Americans using RedNote have said they don’t care if China has access to their data. Viral videos on TikTok in recent days have shown Americans jokingly saying they will miss their personal “Chinese spy,” while others say they are purposefully giving RedNote access to their data in a show of protest against the wishes of the U.S. government.

“This also highlights the fact that people are thirsty for platforms that aren’t controlled by the same few oligarchs,” Quintin said. “People will happily jump to another platform even if it presents new, unknown risks.”

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    Maybe y’all should stop screeching bootlicker schill Nazi with every moderate take and replace the mods with reasonable people trying to mod instead of censoring opposition vote points.

    So so so many people talking about confusion and platform design and privacy. It’s the users and moderation pushing regular people away.

  • @[email protected]
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    355 months ago

    I know we are all on here because we dislike the kind of algorithms that tik tok, Instagram, and Facebook have, but that is exactly the thing my wife was looking for. When I had her download pixelfed and loops she was like ’ I have to search out content and manually follow people like I did with Facebook back in the day?’ and she uninstalled.

    Algorithms can be addictive and evil, but for some people that’s what they’re looking for.

    • @[email protected]
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      95 months ago

      Okay, well I have impulses to go and get drunk, do hard drugs, and attempt to sleep with random women. None of those things are close to a good idea for me.

      Just because you feel drawn to something or a type of thing does not make it healthy or a good idea for that person. Taking desires and expressing them in a healthy way is important, desires dont just disappear.

      • @[email protected]
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        45 months ago

        Some people’s aversion of algorithms on the fediverse kind of reminds me of people’s aversion of GMO food. Genetically modifying rice to contain more vitamin D is probably good; genetically modifying vegetables to contain more cyanide would probably be bad. Algorithms don’t have to be built to maximize “engagement;” they can be designed to maximize other metrics, or balance multiple metrics, or be user-customizable.

        IMO, Mastadon is much worse off for their refusal to implement any kind of algorithm outside their “explore” feed. When I tried using Mastodon, search was unhelpfully in chronological order, and my home feed just got overtaken by the people that post the most. In contrast, Lemmy’s handling of algorithms is pretty good, imo.

        As bad as search engines are now, they’d be even worse if they just gave you results in chronological order.

        • @[email protected]
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          15 months ago

          Its not even the algorithm I dont like, I’m sure I could manipulate it to how I want if I put the effort in, its the bite sized videos and even shorter comments, often single words or phrases. I can’t move on from thing to thing that quickly. The fediverse suits the pace at which I like to consume information and allows me time to think on it, and more importantly, interact with opposing views in meaningful ways.

      • @[email protected]
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        35 months ago

        lol I absolutely agree that TikTok style content is a major contributing factor in mental unwellness (and there’s scientific data supporting that) but you have to understand that is what the majority of people are looking for. and it’s not going away, at least not any time soon, and probably not from any top-down actions of coordinated governance. we gotta accept the reality that like AI it’s part of our world now.

        with that said, hey, the parent comment makes a pretty good case for why normies dont federate

      • @[email protected]
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        85 months ago

        It’s fascinating how Lemmy users view internet consumption habits as a reflection of personal ethics. You can’t always hold other people to the standards you’ve achieved. Using and navigating Lemmy takes effort insight that the majority just don’t have. Being alive also takes effort and can be very painful. Sometimes people just need to be able to turn off and zone out. Try not to place value judgements on the ways that other people do that.

        • @[email protected]
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          15 months ago

          We aren’t smarter for being here, we just are loners who didnt care who would be here. I think its important for everyone to open up more to strangers especially in multinational spaces. We saw a lot of interesting conversation for the brief time people moved from tiktok to rednote, and that type of stuff dispels misinformation better than anything. You are treating it as a personal thing but it is a social tool for a community.

      • @[email protected]
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        25 months ago

        I think you’re hung up on how Big Tech has designed feeds with the express purpose of keeping you there for as long as possible, or even more perversely, as enraged as possible.

        But algorithms can be made to serve other purposes, and I think the fediverse could do with a curation algorithm. Or even better, multiple choices for algorithms to suit your preferences and needs. From what I’ve heard, Bluesky offers something along those lines, which has contributed to its adoption rates.

        I think if Lemmy devs wanted, they could probably come up with some great starter options. Heck, maybe they make it easier for everyone to customize their own algorithms. Not sure how far you get without knowing how to code that sort of thing directly, but even a little would go a long way, I bet.

  • Count Regal Inkwell
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    175 months ago

    I have long since given up on Normies ever coming to the Indie Web, federated or otherwise

    Ever since the big Xwitter exodus, when people went to BlueSky when Mastodon was right there.

  • @[email protected]
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    25 months ago

    People were sarcastically making the comment about sharing their data with the Chinese government. AFAIK there has been zero evidence that this had been happening in the first place.

  • @[email protected]
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    335 months ago

    TikTok doesn’t want the data of the average person becaue they aren’t valuable in any way.

    TikTok is being blocked because they can manipulate their algorithm to feed influencers to them that push pro-Chinese stances.

    Imagine a hypothetical hot war between the US and China where China is telling a significant number of the US population what to think. I specifically say it that way becaue I don’t believe any US company has a significant user base is China.

    • @[email protected]
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      25 months ago

      It could be that sorta thing, but I think it was the same aim as the “salt typhoon” attack on U.S telecomms corpos.

      A majority of the vulnerabilities and data dumps are, yes, worthless, but somewhere there’s dumb U.S officials or people with clearances doom-scrolling TikTok , and their data or meta-data is giving valuable insight into how they can be manipulated, blackmailed, who they’re connected to, whatever.

      • @[email protected]
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        45 months ago

        I feel like I already answered that in the last paragraph.

        It’s litterally anything that whitewashes anything the CCP does. Maybe it’s justification for island building in the South China Sea, framing international right of way passages through the same body of water as border incursions, trying to reduce support for weapon sales to Taiwain, or trying to reduce allied responses to an invasion of Taiwan. It could also just be spreading general unrest.

        • @[email protected]
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          35 months ago

          Literally never seen any of that on TikTok. Just Americans doing their thing. In fact, you can actually look up content on TikTok that shows, describes and condemns the atrocities at tiananmen square, and their awful behavior towards Taiwan. And any number of things that shows the chinese government as a bad player. If they were in control, you’d think that sort of thing wouldn’t even be available.

          • @[email protected]
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            5 months ago

            Yeah, it’s seems kinda obvious that the most extreme TikTokphobes have never actually used the app. They think it looks like this:

        • @[email protected]
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          5 months ago

          You realize people in USA are constantly bombarded with this kind of propaganda from their local state. Even if what you’re saying was true (it’s not), I don’t think one app from a different state is going to make any difference.

    • @[email protected]
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      5 months ago

      Imagine a hypothetical hot war between the US and China where China is telling a significant number of the US population what to think.

      This sounds like an imaginary situation where it might be ok to ban TikTok, but definitely not like actual reality.

  • Avieshek
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    185 months ago

    The fediverse and the decentralised web has a long way to go and need to learn a thing or two about UX unless it wants to join the plight of Linux distros.

  • NutWrench
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    115 months ago

    " . . . giving Rednote access to their data as a show of protest . . ."

    That’s a special kind of stupid.

    • @[email protected]
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      5 months ago

      The weird obsessions you and some users have for certain instances that you can block is truly mind boggling

      Edit: lmao considering OP went to trouble of making a whole gif to celebrate being banned from .ml, I’d say they also fall into the category of “user being obsessed with another instance”. A very mature and normal thing to do!

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        Whu, are you really criticizing op for spending time to make content???

        Cirklejerking is nothing new. Dissing on the big heavily moderated instances is just a part of lemmy culture as I understand it. And its not like people on those big instances arent cirkejerking against the haters also.

        Here is a mirror. Why are you making a fuss about it? You yourself are free to block any of us if that is your preferred solution.

        I am not gonna block them, I am even subscribed to some spaces on .ml .Majority of the users are no different then elsewhere. But i do take the underlying warning seriously and try to pay extra attention to subtle propaganda (which exists on every instance). Encourage people to sign up to smaller less restrictive instances.

        I have read your explanation comment btw, and i am gonna be honest it makes no sense in the context of myself. The reason I personally cant relate with tankies is not because they are too left for my comfort but the exact opposite. Compared to my own anarchist ideals tankies lack qualities i deem important and exhibit propertied i recognize as fascist in nature.

        If you are now thinking my opinion on what counts as fascist isnt worth any salt to you then you are close to understanding my point. We are still both a part of this community regardless of both our valuable opinions and while yours frustrates me a bit, i hold no ill will against you.

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        I think individual instance blocking is not as good as defederating.

        However, even with my instance defederating ml, hexbear, and grad, I can still see ml lovers who moved to other instances, which is slightly disappointing.

        • @[email protected]
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          65 months ago

          However, even with my instance defederating ml, hexbear, and grad, I can still see people like you, which is slightly disappointing

          Not as disappointing as seeing you contributing nothing to the conversation. You just replied to be mean and leave a snarky reply even though I’ve never interacted with you before.

          But tell me more about how those other users are trolls…

      • @[email protected]OP
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        415 months ago

        Blocking is just shoving your head in the sand, what about new users who don’t know any better? Not very fair to them to be instantly subjected to that fire hose and is a bad look as a whole.

        • @[email protected]
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          35 months ago

          Blocking is just shoving your head in the sand,

          And so is trying to get anyone who disagrees with you to shut up.

        • @[email protected]
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          185 months ago

          Blocking is just shoving your head in the sand

          I already wrote my thoughts here about this, so I’m not going to re write everything.

          I am very much aware about those instances.

          What it actually shows, is that neither of you have taken the time to understand why those instances are hated. You’re just following the trend without knowing why

          what about new users who don’t know any better?

          What about them? They can find out just like any other users have. Hopefully, those new users might do more research on them than you

          Not very fair to them to be instantly subjected to that fire hose and is a bad look as a whole.

          It’s exactly as bad of a look as any other instance in here. There are trolls everywhere, and you pretending that they’re only there is an outstanding simplification.

          You think there aren’t any bigots on .world? What would those poor new users think of .world when they see a racist bigot?

          • @[email protected]OP
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            5 months ago

            Sorry, but I did have an open mind with them. You’re the one that has a fundamental misunderstanding on the tankies of .ml

            Most of their positions isn’t “The ideals of communism is good and should be pursued” which is something I have no issues with

            Their positions deny basic facts in support of their beliefs, like China being an authoritarian dictatorship masquerading as a communist country. Or China has in fact led its own genocides or that Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked. Hell they’ve even been known to be on favor of NK.

            And when you bring up these basic facts, your comment is removed and you’re probably going to be at minimum banned from the community. They do not engage in good faith. Period.

            That is why they are so hated

            Edit:

            Look at this, not even 20 minutes ago, “JiveTurkey” banned for “bigotry”

              • @[email protected]OP
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                5 months ago

                [instance]/modlog

                For you it would be lemmy.sdf.org/modlog

                Though you can go to any instance modlog to see modlog from any other instance as long as the instances modlog your viewing is federated with the other instance.

                For example lemmy.world/modlog does not show hexbear entries because .world is defed’d from hexbear but sdf’s modlog will show hexbear entries

            • @[email protected]
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              5 months ago

              Sorry, but I did have an open mind with them. You’re the one that has a fundamental misunderstanding on the tankies of .ml

              Riiight. I have an alt account on .ml (like you would know if you bothered to read linked my comment, instead of replying to only a chunk of my comment) but I am the one who don’t understand that instance…suuure.

              Also, trying to use tankies as an offensive term, immediately shows your true colors and how much you “really had an open mind”. You didn’t and you don’t have an open mind.

              Most of their positions isn’t “The ideals of communism is good and should be pursued” which is something I have no issues with

              It actually is.

              Their positions deny basic facts in support of their beliefs, like China being an authoritarian dictatorship masquerading as a communist country. Or China has in fact led its own genocides or that Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked. Hell they’ve even been known to be on favor of NK.

              All of this is false. Just because there are SOME extreme users, it doesn’t mean the whole instance is like that. By the same standard, when I see a Trump meme or with Confederate flags or with transphobic content, I should generalize for the whole instance too, yes?

              The examples you provided further show that you didn’t really went to .ml with an open mind. I am not denying those facts, but the way you described them indicate you learned nothing. There are SO many posts already there that address all those examples and how historical revisionism and propaganda helped to muddy the waters. A lot of the things we know about those historical facts (and let’s be honest - we’re not historians. The things we know about those events, are mostly what was told to us and what we quickly scanned on a summary) are somewhat painted in a light that makes them appear more favorable to whoever has interests in the race.

              And when you bring up these basic facts, your comment is removed and you’re probably going to be at minimum banned from the community. They do not engage in good faith. Period.

              I’ve never had any issues with the mods over there. Whenever I asked questions about ANY of those facts, I’ve always received very calm and detailed answers to those questions. Sometimes I was happy with their replies, sometimes I was not and my mind wasn’t changed.

              But certainly I didn’t go in calling everyone a tankie and telling them they’re all just a bunch of insane users who don’t understand as much as you do.

              That is why they are so hated

              It’s not. It’s because it’s easier and more appealing for users to get on the hate train without actually engaging with different ideas.

              Just like so many users do when they go in that community to ask a “gotcha” question that has been addressed thousands of times before and then cry “see? Authoritarian tankies!!” When they get banned for it.

              Full honesty here: I too cried like that at first. But it’s precisely because I behaved in a similar way to what I just described. And that is not open mindedness

              Edit: to reply to your screenshot: That comment is using a lot of common stereotypes. You think “western” platforms are not censored? Try making a positive post about Palestine on Reddit or on Instagram. I dare you.

              • @[email protected]OP
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                Riiight. I have an alt account on .ml (like you would know if you bothered to read linked my comment, instead of replying to only a chunk of my comment) but I am the one who don’t understand that instance…suuure.

                Oh I did, you mostly just regurgitated the same points. Also, I don’t know why you keep going on and on about having a .ml alt. .ml is in fact federated with .world and .ee (unfortunately) so you don’t need an alt to engage with them. If you’re saying that you have a .ml alt so you get “treated better” over there then that’s a whole problem on its own.

                All of this is false. Just because there are SOME extreme users, it doesn’t mean the whole instance is like that. By the same standard, when I see a Trump meme or with Confederate flags or with transphobic content, I should generalize for the whole instance too, yes?

                The examples you provided further show that you didn’t really went to .ml with an open mind. I am not denying those facts, but the way you described them indicate you learned nothing. There are SO many posts already there that address all those examples and how historical revisionism and propaganda helped to muddy the waters. A lot of the things we know about those historical facts (and let’s be honest - we’re not historians. The things we know about those events, are mostly what was told to us and what we quickly scanned on a summary) are somewhat painted in a light that makes them appear more favorable to whoever has interests in the race.

                “Some” like the fact that the admins and mods are the ones who are on the more extreme end? I don’t deny that .ml has “normal” users, however, it’s quite clear what kind of culture the admins and mods are trying to cultivate.

                Nutomic btw is the head dev and main admin of .ml. but there’s no transphobia over there huh?

                I’ve never had any issues with the mods over there. Whenever I asked questions about ANY of those facts, I’ve always received very calm and detailed answers to those questions. Sometimes I was happy with their replies, sometimes I was not and my mind wasn’t changed.

                But certainly I didn’t go in calling everyone a tankie and telling them they’re all just a bunch of insane users who don’t understand as much as you do.

                Ofc not, you’re fitting in quite nicely with the “culture”

                • @[email protected]
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                  65 months ago

                  I’m waisting my time. You keep ignoring my replies and bringing up new unrelated topics to avoid giving actual answers.

                  Have it your way. Goodbye

              • @[email protected]
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                45 months ago

                Just like so many users do when they go in that community to ask a “gotcha” question that has been addressed thousands of times before and then cry “see? Authoritarian tankies!!” When they get banned for it.

                hahaha this one is for real tho lol

                “DAE commermism 100 million people? omg!”

              • Not Chad McTruth
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                65 months ago

                it’s easier and more appealing for users to get on the hate train without actually engaging with different ideas.

                absolutely this ive never felt more seen because it really is so much easier that way and people hate on me for it

              • @[email protected]
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                105 months ago

                I too cried like that at first.

                You’re really throwing out every dishonest rhetorical tactic in the book. Reading this exchange is disgusting.

    • @[email protected]
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      195 months ago

      Not everyone who is willing to use redbook is interested in the authoritarian gatekeeping done in the outrage farm known as lemmy.ml

      You might be surprised to learn that there are plenty of leftists who aren’t interested in marxist-lenninism at all

    • bizarroland
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      65 months ago

      I have a loops account but I have not been able to upload a video in over a month, it fails on every single attempt.

      • Bo7a
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        25 months ago

        I found that any video I try to upload longer than about 17 seconds fails while anything shorter works.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      45 months ago

      Yea, but it’s very early. Backend seems pretty solid, but the client app…leaves a lot to be desired lol

    • unknown1234_5
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      115 months ago

      very beta rn, but its no worse than TikTok functionally and doesn’t have any Chinese spyware

      • @[email protected]
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        55 months ago

        That’s…honestly a fair point; a good chunk of why I never bothered with TikTok is it has some of the worst UX I’ve ever experienced in my life.

        • JackbyDev
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          95 months ago

          You clearly haven’t tried Instagram Reels then

      • rigatti
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        225 months ago

        How is Loops no worse than TikTok functionally? People love TikTok for its feed algorithm. Loops doesn’t have that and it’s barely functional at all at this point.

        • unknown1234_5
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          25 months ago

          and TikTok forced so much uninteresting content and ads that you got to a good video just as fast, and features beyond the videos are irrelevant.

          • rigatti
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            45 months ago

            I’m not a TikTok user, but that’s like the opposite of what I’ve heard from my friends who use it.

          • @[email protected]
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            15 months ago

            TBH Instagram is far worse. My recommended reels are 100% professional babes (admittedly I click them sometimes) and my posts are like 40% ads for crazy zionist propaganda and other wacky crap like creationism (literally).

      • @[email protected]
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        145 months ago

        It is dogshit compared to tiktok in the only functionality that matters - algorithmic matching of content to user.

        Yeah ok it can stream a video cool. That’s not worth a can of beans in 2025 - can it give you content that you want to see when you want to see it?

        The answer is a resounding no right now. Until it’s consistently serving up top notch pairings of content to user interest it wont stand a chance in the mainstream.

  • @[email protected]
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    65 months ago

    I mean apples to oranges, this isn’t really anything like tiktok, we don’t share shorts here we create and post on each other’s posts

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        can you browse loops from your lemmy account though? is it really federated if there’s no cross-over? I don’t get it

        also ive been using this since reddit api died and apparently I still don’t get it sooo good luck to any of the normies that we want to recruit lol

        • @[email protected]
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          25 months ago

          There’s no federation at all yet but they’re planning on adding it at some point. I’m not sure to what extent it will work with Lemmy though. They go into more detail on the FAQ page: https://loops.video/help-center/federation

          And yeah federation is kind of a double edged sword, I like the benefits it brings but it can make signing up a bit confusing, I doubt that’s the main thing stopping people from joining though

      • @[email protected]
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        25 months ago

        I mean still, Do you know of any well established fediverse based shorts sharing platforms out there? So far I think we only have reddit and twitter

            • @[email protected]
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              15 months ago

              Yeah it definitely is, sign ups are still limited at the moment, I had to wait several days to get a confirmation email. The iOS app is only in beta at the moment so can only be downloaded from TestFlight. The main for you page currently seems to be just a chronological list of what people have uploaded so it’s hard to discover any content older than a day.

              That being said none of those are really complaints, I went in knowing its not feature complete yet and I’m excited to see where it goes. I never used TikTok so I wasn’t looking for a replacement (and I’m in the UK so it’s not getting banned anyway)

              • @[email protected]
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                15 months ago

                Honestly I didn’t use tiktok that much but rednote is surprisingly different, it’s less blast short form videos in users face and more a mix of Facebook with short form video focus, honestly, you should check it out, only for the reason that I think this may actually be one of the biggest unofficial cultural exchanges in history, and it’s amazing to see the love going around between cultural barriers