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“I can imagine that this will lead to more free choices between recommendation algorithms,” Tang said of what TikTok might look like under the Freedom Plan.
“Like, I’m not a big fan of really short videos, I like long videos. I like interactions, I like investigative news content, and so on. Imagine if I could tell my ‘For You’ feed that I like these things, and then it would be curated based on my interests, instead of ads or anything remotely controlling TikTok. That would be a very different place.”
“If you trust people, sometimes they will trust you.”
Taiwanese politician Tang Feng
“I think it’s also great for creators who want to have real interactions with people without an intermediary forcing you into a specific form of media.”
TikTok’s algorithm remains largely a mysterious black box, though the company has previously publicly shared outlines of its recommendation system, saying it considers factors including likes and comments as well as video information such as captions, sounds and tags.
Tang is taking back control of his internet experience with a browser extension called News Feed Eradicator, which removes algorithmic content from Facebook, Instagram, and X and replaces it with random motivational quotes.
“I think it’s by far the biggest source of unhappiness for people,” they said of social media algorithms.
TikTok shareholders would suffer heavy losses if the app is banned in the United States.Credit: Associated Press
“It’s usually categorized by what’s called engagement, curiosity, constructiveness, etc. I still use the internet the same way I did before this algorithm pushed information ‘for you’. I have an intention, I want to find someone, explore a topic or start a conversation, and I can do all of that without being distracted by information pushed by the algorithm.”
Modern technology, such as social media, is often criticized for dividing people and fostering distrust in society and government, but Tang argues that the opposite is true: technology can and should be used to help build trust. This is the focus of their new book, Pluralism, which highlights the potential of technology to foster cooperation in the democratic process.
A former student protester who became a government minister in 2016, Tang has used his political career to push for digital reforms in Taiwan’s government, including making government websites more accessible and allowing citizens to launch digital petitions. By 2022, Taiwan’s 15-year-olds will rank first in the world for civic engagement.
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Tang said the concepts could be applied in Australia and elsewhere.
“Democracy is a social technology. If we get more people focused on making democracy more responsive, like lower latency, higher bandwidth, more information, we can make it better,” they said. “If you think about democracy, like voting, once every four years is very high latency.
“As a social technology, democracy can be improved in all sorts of ways without threatening existing representatives. It can be a very useful auxiliary augmentation tool to bring people together.
“Taiwan can help. We have a lot of experience in getting the government to trust its citizens, and today Taiwan is the least polarized country in the world in terms of rural, urban, racial or religious polarization.
“If you trust people, sometimes they will trust you.”
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