tiktok and a cyberpunk story idea

[memorizingthedigitsofpi]

I don't know how many of you have ever been on tiktok, but it's one of those apps that causes me dismay. At one point, I decided never to install it and I kind of wish that I'd stuck with that decision. But then back in February I was having a conversation about how "the youths" had no idea how to use AO3 and that everything available to help them learn is aimed at an audience more familiar with web 1.0 than with apps. 

So I downloaded tiktok and started making video tutorials. And because of the nature of the app (it starts showing you random things as soon as you open it and again after you post), I started seeing what was there. 

Tiktok is like other social media but faster. I see all the usual things: undisclosed sponsorships, people wearing their own merch, "link in bio", "shadow banning", the same memes I've seen on tumblr and twitter and facebook and even LJ. I see the same rise and fall and the same paths that creators take when their videos are monetized - whatever blew up becomes a "series". In a lot of ways, it just makes me tired. When I'm not overthinking it and how it could be used for research because it all happens at 5 times the speed of elsewhere.

But the part that's currently giving me all of the thinky thoughts is the filters. Tiktok has really great filters. I was on instagram for literally 10 minutes or less so I don't know if their filters do the same thing, but on tiktok there's a filter that can give a person a full face of makeup. From nothing to blush, highlight, bronzer, eyeshadow, lashes - and it moves with the person's face. There's another filter that will give you a beard. Another one that flashes you from male to female when you change the lighting. 

All of that requires some pretty intricate mapping of faces. Tiktok probably has millions of them stored away somewhere. I can't imagine what that database full of incredibly detailed information about a racially diverse, statistically significant number of humans could be used for - but my brain keeps thinking it's something terrible. 

So, to that end, here are some ideas for a cyberpunk dystopia based on the nightmarish thoughts that tiktok filters have dropped into my brain:

• in a world where political unrest leads to protests in the streets, the government has built its greatest asset to protect law an order - the Dataset
• at the start of the novel, protestors are being arrested at their jobs/homes etc and they have no idea how they're being identified
• a low level coder who works on the Dataset realizes what it is and has to convince the protest leadership that they're legit
• everyone starts wearing masks over their faces to hide their features - the masks are built out in caricatures or with other features that can hide the bone structure of the person underneath
• coder needs to keep working on the Dataset while now being an undercover protestor - will they get caught? several close calls occur
• eventually, coder finds other like-minded individuals also working on the Dataset. They band together to figure out a way to take it down.
• the story culminates in a massive, world-wide protest against the powers-that-be. Coder and friends use that moment to implement the solution they've figured out. The Dataset is deleted. All backups are erased. 
• Most people don't know what happened, but those who do still wear masks. 

Comments

[justapotatowriter]

First off, I really like that cyberpunk dystopia. It's the kind of story that would be made into a game that I'll play and just...keep thinking about for a month or so. (And really, it sounds like something that probably happens somewhere in the world... which is terrifying.)

Tiktok scared me before, but now I'm very sure I'll never use it. My sister does, and she's trying to convince me that it's nice for fandom stuff, but with how fast things are on there, it feels like Tiktok the easiest way to get involved in drama and become overwhelmed. (By involved I mean 'to see drama'. If I actually get actively involved in discourse I'll probably explode. XD)

Also, I don't know if that's something everyone on Tiktok does, but in the ones I've seen people tend to talk quickly, and there are a lot of cuts. I know it's probably because of some time limit on the length of a tiktok, but it makes me feel rushed and confused and anxious. How people keep up with all of that is a mystery to me.

[galadhir]

I think there's definitely going to come a time - probably fairly soon - where we won't be able to believe anything we see on TV or other visual media, because it could have been made with a virtual actor. I have no idea what that will do to society, but I can't say I like the idea of it.

[feast_of_regrets]

I absolutely love your story outline. And I share your worries about TikTok. It has the potential to be beyond Google levels of evil, and it seems like the time limit compresses it to almost the worst aspects of Twitter discourse, only filmed so the human brain sees a face and finds it more believable. Also, I looked at the Wikepedia to confirm my suspicions about ownership (huge tech company), and I thought this was interesting:

"TikTok and Douyin have almost the same user interface but no access to each other's content. Their servers are each based in the market where the respective app is available.[9] The two products are similar, but features are not identical. Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's face for more videos of them and other features such as buying, booking hotels and making geo-tagged reviews." (Wikipedia)

So the scanning capability is already there and available to the public on the Douyin app. (This reminds me of warnings that used to circulate in the blogosphere about not allowing police to crowdsource photo IDs by tagging your friends in photos. We've obviously moved way past that point now.)

[ermingarden]

In case you're interested, here's an article from the NY Times about a recent manhunt using facial recognition software; those being pursued had set a fire during the protests in Minneapolis. The FBI also used facial recognition techniques to help identify people who attacked the Capitol on January 6 (see this Washington Post article).

And here's a 2019 ACLU report on AI video analytics: "The Dawn of Robot Surveillance." A quote that seems to me to sum it up pretty well: "Technologies that collect and store information just in case it is needed are being transformed into technologies that actively watch people, often in real time."

Which is all just to say: Unfortunately, your premise isn't far off from reality.

[pauraque]

I have never used Tiktok, and one of the only things I know about it is that U.S. military personnel are banned from using it because the Pentagon considers it a severe security risk. So I guess it's safe to say you're not the only one to have concerns about what's being done (or could be done) with all the data the app is collecting.

[mistressofmuses]

Add me to the list of people who wish they'd stuck to not ever downloading it, ugh. So far I've managed not to ever just watch the stuff it wants to show me (though I hate that I'll try to open a link that someone sends me to watch a video... and it doesn't open that, just starts showing me random stuff.) And I've never made a video.

But yeah, it's got a LOT of facial mapping, and there are a LOT of ways that sort of thing could be misused.

[betzenjammer]

Agreed, TikTok is whole different monster. I've never posted anything there, but the app has seen my face. I keep downloading it and then deleting it within a week...and then redownloading it. And deleting it. Repeat. Repeat.

The UI fascinates me. like feast_of_regrets said, it seems like it was specifically made to emphasize the least reliable information in the package that the human mind is most primed to accept. Sourcing information properly ranges from difficult to impossible. Even in the following page, you have very little control over what you see and when. It's impossible to find anything after you've seen it--even if you like the video, there's no way to search or filter through your likes. Everything is transient. Nothing is substantial. The parasocial potential of the format is astronomical. And yet-- and yet--

I feel like I can't leave. It's powerfully addicting.