Yeah. This functionally worked before without gps. It leaves very little other reasons for them to suddenly need gps, now. This implicates there’s little motive to use the gps data for a local feed but the true motive is something else. The writing on the wall is that this is going to be sold to US immigration “enforcement” agencies. Shameful and disgraceful.
Although I uninstalled the app after the finalization of the sale to those among Oracle, I used to be a long time user of Tik Tok and recall this being a feature years ago.
Interestingly, when this was rolled out, it did not require gps services from the devices, probably using geoIP lookup, and location tags on posts, either set by the creator when posting (i remember this more often than not being a feature for shitpost using absurd locations like gayville) or maybe through some machine learning audio or video to text algorithm interpreting if the post might be relevant to some geographical location if the poster didn’t tag it. I tried to find any mention of gps or location services in the article I linked and its other references, but didn’t find anything, corroborating that it was probably geoIP and some algorithmic detection.
Most arguments people make against AI are in my opinion actually arguments against capitalism. Honestly, I agree with all of them, too. Ecological impact? A result of the extractive logic of capitalism. Stagnant wages, unemployment, and economic dismay for regular working people? Gains from AI being extracted by the wealthy elite. The fear shouldn’t be in the technology itself, but in the system that puts profit at all costs over people.
Data theft? Data should be a public good where authors are guaranteed a dignified life (decoupled from the sale of their labor).
Enshittification, AI overview being shoved down all our throats? Tactics used to maximize profits tricking us into believing AI products are useful.