Tag: Tiktok

Social Media: Society, Politics and Healthcare

By Konsam Jenny

Abstract

With the introduction of social media, majority of the population of the world is under the influence of it which is both positive and negative. It has changed the world scenario: education, politics, administration, health, society and so on. Youths are glued to social media and adults and senior citizens are no exception. This paper tries to highlight some of the issues faced in the field of politics, society and healthcare. The author took up this areas believing that society is deeply impacted by our health and the way the administration is run.

Key words: social media; politics; society; healthcare

Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com

Introduction

Social media has become an integral part of our life. It no longer confine in staying connected with family and friends but it serve a bigger role such as forming public opinion, a platform for discussion for almost every field (society, administration, economy, politics, health and so on, both in the national and international arena). The use of social media is prevalent across all ages and professions and is pervasive around the world. Social media, nowadays, plays a significant role in shaping/changing our world.[1] As of January 2023, Facebook users have reached 3 billion (monthly active users)[2] Youtube – 2.49 billion; WhatsApp – 2 billion; Istagram – 2 billion.[3] A detailed analysis by the team at Kepios shows that there are 5.04 billion social media users around the world in January 2024, equating to 62.3 percent of the total global population.[4] Social Media such as Face book, Twitter and YouTube are not just mere innovations in the internet world, but are fast emerging as influencers and opinion creators.[5]

Definition of social media

Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content”.[6]According to Dewing (2010) social media is defined as “various types of internet services commonly associated with social media (sometimes referred to as web 2.0 includes the blogs, wikis, social networking sites, status-update services, media sharing sites)”.[7] Another definition provided by Mayfield (2008) describes these media as “online platforms that promote participation, openness conversation and connectedness”.[8]

Types of social media

Social Media can be classified as: Social Networking Sites (mainly used for connecting with friends and family focusing more on person-to-person conversations); Image-based sites(apps like Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat which are designed to amplify the sharing of images); Video sharing/streaming platforms/Discussion forums (which allow users to ask questions and get answers from different people) and Blogs and community platforms (Blogs are a great way for businesses and marketers to reach and provide credible information to their target audience).[9]

Social media and society

Social media deeply influences every aspect of our lives be it personal or our professional lives. Following are some of the positive as well as negative impact of social media in our society: 

Positive impact

One simple example of positive impact of social media is very much prevalent during the time of Pandemic (Covid-19). Education was hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was with the help of social media that education was made available online to millions of student. In today’s time academic education is provided through various tools such as blogs, podcasts, e-learning, m-learning etc. Connectivity with family and friends living faraway places has become easier. It also helps in giving awareness regarding various topics, including current affairs, politics, environment, etc.[10]  

Negative impact

  1. It has become primary source for spreading fake news and information
  2. Powerful people, companies and institutions misuse it to spread propaganda to meet their interests
  3. Politicians /political parties use as a propaganda tool, setting a fake narrative to manipulate the ideology especially common people.
  4. Use as a tool by Terrorists and Extremists extensively to spread hateful and violent ideologies
  5. Trolling and bullying can become a serious issue affecting one’s health (mentally as well as physically).[11]

Role of Social Media in Politics

Social media which was considered as a tool for entertainment has change considerably. Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and others have played a big role when it comes to administration. It has dismantled traditional barriers between politicians and their constituents.[12] It is seen that before 2009 general elections, Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP who had previously served as UN Under-Secretary-General, was the only Indian politician with a Twitter account but today most of the politician has social media account.[13] For example, the most influential political leader on Twitter is Barack Obama (former US President). In 2008 Obama first started using Twitter and other social media sites during his presidential campaign. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 election made Twitter his most important tool for communication, Joe Biden, Amit Shah, Arvind Kejriwal, Dalai Lama, Pope Francis are some of the prominent leaders who have used social media. It is worth mentioning that BJP reportedly operates around 200,000 to 300,000 WhatsApp groups and controls 18,000 fake Twitter handles.[14]

Social media influencer and politics

 Social media influencer also plays important role in creating public opinion when it comes to politics. They are important in political marketing shaping narratives and engaging with diverse voters. Political parties collaborate with influencers of different types based on their campaign goals and budgets. Influencers can be categorised as Nano (0-10000 followers) and micro-influencers (10000 – 100000) connect with local communities, while macro (1-10 lakh) and mega-influencers (10 lakh and above) spread messages to a vast audience.[15]

In 2023, Ankit Baiyanpuria (a social media fitness influencer from Haryana) joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Shramdaan programme of the “Swachhata Hi Seva”[16] Union Ministers S Jaishankar (watched 6.6 million times), Nitin Gadkari (watched 2.2 million times), Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Rajeev Chandrasekhar have given interviews to two prominent Youtubers Ranveer Allahabadia and Raj Shamani.  Delhi chief minister Arvind kejriwal gave interview to comedian Kunal Karma in 2019; Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was interviewed by YouTube content creator Samdish Bhatia in 2022; Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan interviewed by Shamani;[17]Congress leader Rahul Gandhi gave interviewed to Bhatia, Curly Tales and Mashable India during his Bharat Jado Yatra.[18] The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manoj Tiwari and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s Aaditya Thackeray have given similar interviews since 2022.[19] Biden recently rolled out the red carpet at the white house for hundreds of influencers including actor Kalen Allen (2 million) and artist Devon Rodriguez (9 million followers) hoping to persuade them to join his cadre of digital assets.[20] Trump has been cosy with conservation influencers. The list is endless.

Social media and political events

Incidents like the huge protests of 2012 regarding anti-corruption movement by Anna Hazare leading to the serious consideration of Lokpal Bill in the Parliament; the outrage following Nirbhaya gang rape case (2012) channelized through the social media led to bring changes in Rape Law; the development on the long awaited administrative issue of Telangana; the 2014 India’s Parliament Election called as “First social media election” made history as much of it took place online; presidential campaigns of Barack Obama way back in 2008 made history; the Arab Revolution or the Arab Uprising where social media played a significant role in bringing changes to the long dictatorial rule in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011. In Philippine, with the help of only text messages President Joseph Estrada was ousted in 2001. In 2012, in Romania it had helped in converting street movements into large cities.

Social media and Health

Human beings being a social creature need companionship. It is this connections that help humankind to ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life.[21]On the other, lacking of such connection can lead to serious health issue. Although, it is seen that social media have their own benefits but it can never replace the real world. Ironically for a technology that’s designed to bring people closer together, spending too much time on it actually make you feel more lonely and isolated.[22]

Benefits of social media in Healthcare Professionals (HCP)

Social media was widely used in health contexts by many especially during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.[23] It is used for various health purposes such as health interventions, health campaigns, medical education and disease outbreak surveillance.[24] Mention may be made that 80 per cent of cancer patients used it to connect with peers In US alone, 80 per cent of health organisations used social media accounts.[25] Social media provide HCPs with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviours, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleague.[26]

According to the Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)[27] following are some of the benefits and drawbacks of social media in healthcare: 

The positive side:

  1. Patients use social media sites 

About 80 per cent of patients used internet to make healthcare-related search, therefore, it’s important to connect practice and services to the internet

  1. Easily Build Relationships with Patients

Patients want to feel that they have a close relationship with their physicians. According to a survey conducted on behalf of American Osteopathic Association roughly 42 per cent adults want to follow their healthcare professionals on social media

  1. Showcase accomplishments and activities through social media platforms

Patients want to know that their doctors and nurses are involved in the community.

  1. Attract Healthcare Professionals to the Workplace 

Research shows that about 90 per cent of physicians use social media for professional reasons. It becomes easy to find more doctors and nurses to join your company.

Drawbacks of social media in healthcare

  1. Security Risks: The biggest is that their private information might get stolen.
  2. False information
  3. Lack of Control from the Healthcare Professional: there is no way to prevent negative comments.
  4. Time-Consuming: it is not easy to produce new content all the time.
  5. The Danger of Self-Diagnosis

Conclusion:

Social media have become so important in every sphere of our life. From the above discussion we can conclude that there is an ever increasing rate of internet users all around the world. The facilities provided by social media cannot be comparing with any other in every field (politics, society or health, as discussed above). It is up to us to utilities it in the most appropriate manner.   

References:

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2012) Statement on use of social media by pharmacy professionals, 69(23): 2095-2097 at: www.ashp.org/DocLibrary/BestPractices/AutoITStSocialMedia.aspx at Accessed 16/03/2024DOI: 10.2146/sp120011

Bernhardt M, Jay and Alber, J and Gold RS (2014) A social media primer for professionals: digital do’s and don’ts, Health Promot Pract,15(2):168–172 at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24396119/#:~:text=When%20used%20wisely%20and%20prudently,recognition%20and%20improve%20one’s%20reputationaccessed date 16/03/2024 DOI: 10.1177/1524839913517235

Braun LA, Zomorodbakhsch B, Keinki C, Huebner J. (2019) Information needs, communication and usage of social media by cancer patients and their relatives. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 145(7):1865-1875 

Chen, Junhan and Wang, Yuan (2021) Social media use for health purposes: systematic Review, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5) doi:10.2196/17917

Deuskar, Nachiket (2023), Why are so many Indian politicians giving interviews to social media influencers? at https://scroll.in/article/1052678/why-are-so-many-indian-politicians-giving-interviews-to-social-media-influencers accessed date 17/03/2024

Dewing, Michael (2010) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament.

Dewing, Michael (2012) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament (Revised)

Fogelson NS, Rubin ZA, Ault KA (2013) Beyond likes and tweets: an in-depth look at the physician social media landscape, Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56(3):495–508. 

George DR, Rovniak LS, Kraschnewski JL (2013) Dangers and opportunities for social media in medicine. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56 (3): 453–462. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0b013e318297dc38

Global social media statistics at https://datareportal.com/social-media-users accessed date 16/03/2024

https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/#topicOverview accessed date 18/03/2024 

https://backlinko.com/youtube-users accessed date 18/03/2024

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/social-media-seen-as-mostly-good-for-democracy-across-many-nations-but-u-s-is-a-major-outlier/accessed date 16/03/2024

Jha A, Lin L, Savoia E. (2016) The use of social media by state health departments in the US: analyzing health communication through Facebook. J Community Health 41(1):174-179.

Jose, Jelvin (2021) The Politicization of Social Media in India, South Asian Voices at  https://southasianvoices.org/the-politicization-of-social-media-in-india/ accessed date 07/03/2024

Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010) Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.

Kaur, Surjit and Kaur, Manpreet (2013) Impact of social media on politics, Gian Jyoti e-journal, 3(4): 23-29.

Kudumula, Durga (2022) What Are the Types of Social Media? at 

https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-marketing/what-are-the-types-of-social-media accessed date 17/03/2024  

Kumar, Krishna (2023) The Role of Social Media in Shaping Indian Politics athttps://medium.com/@krishnakumar10000/the-role-of-social-media-in-shaping-indian-politics-960a38ebfb37 accessed date 07/03/2024

Mayfield.Is blogging innovation journal? at http//www.innovationjounral.org//archive/INJO Baltaziz,pdf. Accessed date 16/03/2024

Moorhead SA, Hazlet DE, Harrison L, et al. (2013) A new dimension of health care: systemic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health care professionals. J Med Internet Res. 15(4): e85. 

Mucha, Sarah (2020) Biden harnesses influencer star power to ramp up digital outreach, CNN, 17 June 2020 at CNNhttps://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/politics/biden-campaign-influencers/index.html accessed date 19/03/2024

Peck JL. (2014) Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use, Journal of Nursing Education, 53 (3): 164–169 at https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20140219-03

Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)

https://digitalismedical.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-healthcare/ accessed date 16/03/2024

Robinson, Lawrence and Melinda Smith, M.A. (2020) Social Media and Mental Health 

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Social%20Media%20and%20Mental%20Health.pdf accessed date 17/03/2024

Singhmar, Nikhil Kumar (2024) How important are social media influencers in Indian elections? at https://thewire.in/politics/how-important-are-social-media-influencers-in-indian-elections accessed date 17/03/2024

Social media and its impact on society – positive and negative impact

at https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/social-media-and-its-impact-on-society accessed date 17/03/2024

Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election at https://theconversation.com/why-biden-is-investing-in-influencers-to-help-with-this-years-election-224912 accessed date 17/03/2024

[1] Peck JL. (2014) Social media in nursing education: responsible integration for meaningful use, Journal of Nursing Education, 53 (3): 164–169 at https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20140219-03

[2] https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/#topicOverview accessed date 18/03/2024 

[3] https://backlinko.com/youtube-users accessed date 18/03/2024

[4] Global social media statistics at https://datareportal.com/social-media-users accessed date 16/03/2024

[5] Kaur, Surjit and Kaur, Manpreet (2013) Impact of social media on politics, Gian Jyoti e-journal, 3(4): 23-29.

[6] Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010) Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003.

[7] Dewing, Michael (2010) Social media an introduction, Social affairs division, parliamentary information and research services, Library of Parliament.

[8]Mayfield.Is blogging innovation journal? at http//www.innovationjounral.org//archive/INJO Baltaziz,pdf. Accessed date 16/03/2024

[9] Kudumula, Durga (2022) What Are the Types of Social Media? at 

https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-marketing/what-are-the-types-of-social-media accessed date 17/03/2024  

[10] Social media and its impact on society – positive and negative impact

At https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/social-media-and-its-impact-on-society accessed date 17/03/2024

[11] ibid

[12] Kumar, Krishna (2023) The Role of Social Media in Shaping Indian Politics at https://medium.com/@krishnakumar10000/the-role-of-social-media-in-shaping-indian-politics-960a38ebfb37 accessed date 07/03/2024

[13] Jose, Jelvin (2021) The Politicization of Social Media in India, South Asian Voices at  https://southasianvoices.org/the-politicization-of-social-media-in-india/ accessed date 07/03/2024

[14] ibid

[15] Singhmar, Nikhil Kumar (2024) How important are social media influencers in Indian elections? at https://thewire.in/politics/how-important-are-social-media-influencers-in-indian-elections accessed date 17/03/2024

[16] ibid

[17] Deuskar, Nachiket (2023), Why are so many Indian politicians giving interviews to social media influencers? at https://scroll.in/article/1052678/why-are-so-many-indian-politicians-giving-interviews-to-social-media-influencers accessed date 17/03/2024

[18] ibid

[19] ibid

[20] Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election at https://theconversation.com/why-biden-is-investing-in-influencers-to-help-with-this-years-election-224912 accessed date 17/03/2024

[21] Robinson, Lawrence and Melinda Smith, M.A. (2020) Social Media and Mental Health 

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Social%20Media%20and%20Mental%20Health.pdf accessed date 17/03/2024

[22] ibid.

[23] Chen, Junhan and Wang, Yuan (2021) Social media use for health purposes: systematic Review, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5)doi:10.2196/17917. Also see Braun LA, Zomorodbakhsch B, Keinki C, Huebner J. (2019) Information needs, communication and usage of social media by cancer patients and their relatives. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 145(7):1865-1875 

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid. Also see Jha A, Lin L, Savoia E. (2016) The use of social media by state health departments in the US: analyzing health communication through Facebook. J Community Health 41(1):174-179.

[26] Bernhardt M, Jay and Alber, J and Gold RS (2014) A social media primer for professionals: digital do’s and don’ts, Health Promot Pract,15(2):168–172 at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24396119/#:~:text=When%20used%20wisely%20and%20prudently,recognition%20and%20improve%20one’s%20reputationaccessed date 16/03/2024 DOI: 10.1177/1524839913517235. Also see Fogelson NS, Rubin ZA, Ault KA (2013) Beyond likes and tweets: an in-depth look at the physician social media landscape, Clin Obstet Gynecol. 56(3):495–508.  See Moorhead SA, Hazlet DE, Harrison L, et al. (2013) A new dimension of health care: systemic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health care professionals. J Med Internet Res. 15(4): e85. 

[27] Pros and Cons of Social Media in Healthcare (2022 Guide)

https://digitalismedical.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-healthcare/ accessed date 16/03/2024

Will facebook Rival Instagram give tough competition to Tiktok after the launch of feature “Reels” in India

After the banning of Tiktok and 58 other Chinese apps in India, the demand for short video apps is increasing. This is the best time to grab this opportunity for the existing app companies as well well as to launch the new apps which provide a short video creation feature.

Though after the government banned TikTok in India other homegrown apps like ShareChat, Roposo, Chingari are also being used by the people of the country more, Instagram also takes the advantage of this situation and launches a feature of short video creation named “Reels”.

In Brazil, Germany and France are the countries where this feature is successfully tested. India is the next one.

This feature will be rolling out in India after 7:30 IST today. Just like IGTV, users will also have a Reels section on their profile page, where all their content can be viewed at once.

The feature Reels lets users create a video of 15 seconds or less. Users can also use creative filters on it, can share it beyond his/her followers. Similar to TikTok, Reels provide options like audio from Instagram Music library, speed, effects, and timer.

Shah says the product comes from the realization that 45 percent of videos on Instagram are 15 seconds or less. “We also realized that stories are not the only place where they wanted to share these videos as they wanted them to stick on for longer and be distributed beyond their followers,” he said in the video call.

The new feature lets users shoot video, add filters and music from Instagram’s catalog and share it beyond the platform. Users will be able to share Reels in Explore, and also on Feed with followers. There will be no monetization avenues for now.

To create Instagram Reels, a user would need to open the camera option in the app. After clicking on Reels from the bottom of the screen, the app throws up several easy-to-use tools to record and edit a 15-second video.

Creators can choose to use the in-app music tracks, or even use custom audio for their videos. There are also options to speed up or slow down parts of the video. There’s an Align option that helps creators maintain their position in front of the camera while recording multiple cuts in a single video. It also has an array of augmented reality effects that can be used to make videos more fun.

According to Facebook India Vice President and Managing Director Ajit Mohan, videos make up a third of all Instagram posts in India. Out of that, around 45 percent of the videos posted are of 15 seconds or less.

Calling Reels as the “future of entertainment,” Facebook’s Vice President of Product Vishal Shah said that the superior goal of Reels was to push Indian content creators and help them become potential “global stars.”

Instagram says that it has been working with popular content creators and public figures to populate Reels content. When the test starts rolling out, users can check out content posted by the likes of Ammy Virk (3.3 million fans on TikTok), Gippy Grewal (1.7 million), Arjun Kanungo (1.5 million), Radhika Bangia (5.4 million), RJ Abhinav (1.6 million) and Indrani Biswas aka Wonder Munna (630K subscribers on YouTube).

As of now, Instagram plans to learn more from the testing phase and from creators themselves. Monetization options are also expected to be introduced once Reels takes off in India. No official public rollout date has been announced yet.

CHINESE APPLICATIONS OUTLAWED

On 29th June 2020, the Indian government issued a ban on 59 Chinese Apps including, TikTok, WeChat, Xender, ShareIt, LIKEE, Helo, and CamScanner among others.
This ban has been implemented after a deadly clash between the militaries of both the countries that left twenty Indian soldiers dead. Satellite images also show that China has built new structures near the border region.

The Ministry Of Information And Technology, has stated that, “ it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps… for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.. Since this ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures”

But it raises concerns beyond stealing of Users’ data. If Users’ data being safe was the only concern then why didn’t they ban the Zoom App – An app founded by Chinese-American billionaire, Eric Yuan. Despite being accused of stealing data and various privacy concerns, numerous times, all the app has been given are mere warnings. An Article on News18, says that since Zoom is an American company, located in California, it wasn’t banned.
But doesn’t it go against the statements given by the Ministry Of Information and Technology, which basically said, that they banned the apps because users’ data was being ‘misused’ ?
It proves that the ‘ban’ was supposed to be a “fitting” reply to China, as border tensions escalated, and wasn’t just a security concern.

Which brings us to two questions :

  1. Was India in a position to Ban Chinese Apps?

Most of the apps banned were highly popular in India. Topping the list was TikTok with over 100 million users just in India.
While many “TikTok stars” used the app to earn a living, there were several others who just liked having access to make content.
What made TikTok connect to its users was the fact that how easy it was to handle and to make content, which is why people who couldn’t create content on other platforms like YouTube because of the complications and the investments, could easily create content here.

TikTok really seemed to connect with the Indian Youth because many still are accessing it via VPNs.
While companies like Panda VPN are even advertising the fact that you can access all the banned apps via using them.
Many teens are trying to make apps to access TikTok without VPNs and they are very confidently posting their videos on social media.

The fact that people can still access these apps through VPNs while Chinese investors continue to profit off our people, shows how this ban was nothing more than ”a symbolic ban’.

The ban wouldn’t harm the Chinese as much as it will harm us.
Most of these apps had Indian Creators for whom this was their only source of income. Not to mention, many of these apps have offices and employees in India, whose jobs are at stake.

With the rising unemployment, and the falling GDP, was it really necessary to put thousands of jobs and lives at risk, in the middle of a pandemic? Was symbolism really this important?

  1. Is banning Chinese Apps enough ? “Tokenism does not change stereotypes of social systems but works to preserve them, since it dulls the revolutionary impulse.”
    – Mary Daly

A week ago, we were furious at our government, for the border situation with both China, and Nepal.
And for once, we expected the Modi government to do something. Because isn’t that what they have been flexing about all those years, with the Balakot Airstrike, or the Surgical Strike? A nation with Strong Military strength?

Instead, we were deceived by various media houses, and our government, who mentioned for weeks that there are no border tensions between India and China.

Instead, we were met with disappointment, as the Prime Minister himself turned his back on us, when he released a public statement saying that there has been “no Chinese intrusion” into our territory. That statement was used by the Chinese Government to shake off any responsibility about the death of twenty Indian soldiers.
Soon after receiving heavy backlash, the government released a statement that practically said “The Prime Minister didn’t mean what you thought he meant”. The video which was available on YouTube was of course edited, and the part where Mr. Modi said how there were no Chinese Intrusions was removed. Channels like AajTak, blamed the army, instead of the government.

I wish it stopped here, but it didn’t. Our government said almost 43 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured, to satisfy India’s collective blood-thirst, when no such number was revealed or verified from the other side. Which makes me wonder if soldiers are just numbers for this country?
Like in a game of Chess, you just count the number of pieces you killed of your opponent. And if it’s more than the number of pieces he killed, then you’re satisfied.
I wonder if our soldiers are nothing more than Chess Pieces to us.
I wonder if their death will ever mean something more than ‘revenge’.

The government also said that no Indian Soldiers were captured.
The next day though, China released 10 of our soldiers.
I wonder how the government would have explained the disappearances of these ten soldiers to their families had they not been released by the Chinese Government.

How do we trust a government that has deceived us at every given turn? How do we trust a government that takes the Army’s credit after a Surgical Strike to increase their polling numbers, but blames the Army for their failures?

And after all this, they decided to temporarily ban some Chinese apps.
I wonder why AliBaba wasn’t banned, or PUBG which is backed by Tencent?
As you might already have guessed, AliBaba is one of the biggest investors in the Indian market, and so is Tencent.

The act of banning Chinese Apps was nothing more than Tokenism. But look how well it has worked, no one is blaming the government for literally anything anymore. Not the diesel-petrol price hike. Not even the lack of response to China.
At the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself this, “has this all happened before”?
Have the bans happened before? In a different or similar context? With a different or same nation?

Tiktok caught spying on iOS 14 users’ data

TikTok app – for which many campaigns are running over the social media to boycott the use of this Chinese app- was recently caught spying on people who were using iOS 14, mainly developers and selected users. Complete access to the update will be made available to users by Fall 2020, Apple had noted.

The short video-making Chinese app had stated in the past that it would stop the practice of reading content on user’s clipboards However, quite recently it was again found that the app is snooping on the Apple users and was caught red-handed a report on Telephraph stated.

This could be figured out by a software update by Apple for iOS 14 that sends notifications to users whenever an app is found accessing their data.

The alarms for apps getting access to data were raised before the release of iOS 14. Research by Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk found that many popular apps were snooping on user content without their consent. The report noted that the text left in the clipboard or the pasteboard could be inconsequential but it could contain sensitive data like user’s passwords, etc.

Every time the user opens an app, it gets access to their data. This could be gaming apps or social media apps.

Along with Tiktok other apps like AccuWeather, Overstock, AliExpress, Call of Duty Mobile, Patreon, and Google News also accessed user’s data from their clipboards, Telegraph noted.

iPhone users and software developers who received notifications were enraged with this and described the app’s behavior as “creepy” and “extremely shady,” the report stated.

A spokesperson for TikTok issued a clarification quoted by The Telegraph. He said that the app’s behavior was triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior. Further, he assured of the privacy of the users and transparency of the working of the App.

“Following the beta release of iOS 14 on June 22, users saw notifications while using a number of popular apps. For TikTok, this was triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior. We have already submitted an updated version of the app to the App Store removing the anti-spam feature to eliminate any potential confusion,” the spokesperson said.
“TikTok is committed to protecting users’ privacy and being transparent about how our app works,” he added.

It is however not clear if the company removed the feature for Android devices as well and for how long the feature had been in place. It also did not give any clarification if the user’s data from the clipboard was used by the app.

A report by MacRumors stated that a download of the new update confirms that TikTok no longer appears to be accessing the clipboard.