BLOG#6

Title: Tick-tock, TikTok: As Biden sets deadline for ban of social media app, here's what we know

Source: Ella Lee, USA Today

Date: 28 FEB 2023

URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/28/white-house-tiktok-bans-legislation-what-we-know/11364439002/ 

My critical questions:

When I read the articles again, I started to question myself “What is the source? Who is the author? Does it include any proof or evidence? Basically, the first thing to see is the company’s name, USA Today which is an American daily news broadcasting company that has been established since 1982. By googling it, I saw their bias rate has been determined as a Lean Left Bias which has a liberal political view. I wondered if conservative readers observed their news articles what kind of thought they would bring out? Therefore, personally the liberal political spectrum is reasonable. The author’s profile has been given and she graduated in Journalism with a minor in American Politics. Her profile is trustworthy and her field of study is related to what she is working on right now. Throughout her article, there is much evidence that has been provided such as links to another website (that is not only an American company), some policy documents, and etc. 

In addition, a question that should be asked further from this article is “does the headline present you with some hidden bias/prejudice?”. At first, I thought it was just a normal news headline, but when I found some hidden tricking words there, I feel suspicious of the headline. They said “Tick Tock - TikTok” which indicates the slang of Tick Tock which means that time is running out for something, I saw how the author tries to remind TikTok app that the deadline to ban their app is coming.

Finally, what I also notice in the articles is that “does it provide both sides of the story? Is it balanced?" It was obvious that I found the American view as primary, and then the Chinese government or Tiktok CEO as secondary, because it should relevant to the headlines. However, I noticed that the author wanted us to support the American view which is to ban Tiktok in general, not only government devices. 

BLOG #5

 Title: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s Congress Showdown: Five takeaways 

Title: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s Congress Showdown: Five takeaways 

Source: BBC News James Clayton

Date: 23 March 2023

URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/65047087

Summary: On Thursday, March 23, TikTok chief executive Shou Chew attended the US congressional hearing session. This event was an attempt of the US government, legislators, lawmakers, etc to take on questions for their national safety. The congress was united, both Democrats and Republicans, against the threats in terms of data privacy, child safety, and other issues from Tiktok. Throughout the session, the congress executives grilled Mr. CEO about the links between his app and the Chinese government as well as how deeply the app connected to Bytedance company where Tiktok’s parent company that “has gone out of their way to hide and airbrush corporate structure ties to the CCP -  Chinese Communist Party”. 

Another important concern from the congress members is when they wanted Mr. Shou to explain the kinds of data collected and the way Tiktok service stores the data, but Chew responded and claimed that Tiktok is in the process of moving all US user data to data centers in the US where it operated by the American company and American engineers. 

Response: The US congressional hearing session was intense and created a lot of wonder, and confusion from each question and answer from Mr. Chew, and also the US executives. For me, the most important concern of this Tiktok app is the impact on kids, teens with violence or inappropriate content. It would be a direct threat to many of young teenagers who suffer from mental problems and Tiktok would possibly show video that is relevant to their feeling right now and might lead them to the wrong path or even to end their life. 

Reflecting on the news outlet, BBC provides a neutral side and it covered both points of view from the US government and Tiktok CEO. They provide sources that are related to these topics and that makes me want to keep reading more. 

Questions: After this congressional hearing session, I would like to know what would be the next steps for the US government to Tiktok app?

As in Singapore which barred users who are under 13 years old to create an account, would it be possible in the future that Tiktok would develop their systems to prove all users around the world to prove their age strictly before using?

BLOG#4

Title: Tick-tock, TikTok: As Biden sets deadline for ban of social media app, here's what we know

Source: Ella Lee, USA Today

Date: 28 FEB 2023

URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/28/white-house-tiktok-bans-legislation-what-we-know/11364439002/ 

Summary: 

The state administrations, lawmakers and Whitehouse Republicans have remained and moved forward to banning TikTok, Chinese most famous media today. They are concerned that this app could be a security risk to national information. They stated that the Chinese Communist Party could gather information from American users or somehow could disseminate misinformation politically. Therefore, the White House has ordered 30 days deadline to all US government agencies to remove TikTok from their work devices. 

However, Chinese authorities have criticized the move, saying it’s an overreaction. China is saying that the US is over-stretching the idea of national security being a problem, and that is damaging this successful Chinese company.

Response: 

From personal experience, using TikTok, it contains our personal information analytically and comprehensively. They know what we are thinking and interested, by scrolling, liking and share videos. Wherever you are or whatever you do, everyone could assess your actions in every part of the world. So, I do believe that this TikTok app could possibly collect countless data from us. Moreover, I am also concerned about the security and privacy we hold inside this social media. And speaking from the political side, TikTok is still a security risk, even though it’s entertaining and fun. 

Question: 

I want to know, how many countries or states that have banned TikTok? What are there? And what are the reasons for it?

BLOG#3

Title: Can We Really Measure Implicit Bias? Maybe Not. 

Date: 5 January 2017

URL: http://www.chronicle.com/article/Can-We-Really-Measure-Implicit/238807 

Summary: 

Implicit bias or unconscious bias is a concept of thinking that we have, or a preference for a certain type of people or groups, without any conscious knowledge. The implicit Association Test (IAT) is one of those popular tools that catch people's attention and circulate widely since its first published in 1998. In fact, the IAT has been published in website, online, and millions of people wanted to try it on. The test measured and explained the implicit bias that you have. As facts, the IAT’s purpose is that it assesses how people think toward certain types of people, that work with human brain and behaviour, normally the test consists of ‘good words’ and also ‘bad words’, it can also include two certain things and appeared of  ‘blacks and bad word’ and ‘white and good word’. 

One of the psychologists, Blanton Hart, who stated that the IAT was unclear, had inadequate evidence and untrustworthy, so he came up with his findings. During his research, the correlation between unconscious bias and biased behaviors has been debated, the testing was not effectively measured and provide the accuracy of biases. The IAT just only tracks the number of mistakes and measures the speed that we take on each question, it’s uncanny, he said. He also claimed that IAT cannot predict itself, then how it is supposed to predict biases? However, Greenwald and Banaji disagreed on Blanton's points and they intended to report back on Blanton’s mistakes over time. Apart from that, Forsher, who considered to think beyond the IAT problems and implied that we should focus on the root of discrimination and how to combat them, not how IAT could cause biased behaviors. 

Response: 

Personally speaking, first I don't think that I am racist, prejudiced or biased against a certain group of people, I think I have an egalitarian approach to everybody equally (First assumption). However, after I took the test, the result came to me that I am more biased against thin people than fat people. I think this test help me to uncover those unconscious biases for some reasons, but still need more proof that am I really that bias towards a fat person? do I need to take multiple times to make it clear?. As I said, personally the IAT test might tell something about an individual, even though the testing does not know more about our everyday life, but I believe that it tells us something, that I don't really know (sounds mysterious hah!). I also believed that behaviour prediction is much more complex than is it, so I think the IAT won’t fully influence individual’s behaviors. 

Question: 

How to avoid for being resulted as implicit biases/prejudiced? How can the IAT measure whether we are biased or not? Do I need to take IAT multiple times to ensure the accuracy of results? and how many times should I take that might be effective enough?