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  • The whole TikTok thing is a complete shitshow from start to finish. The whole effort to ban TikTok started because bunch of kids organized and trolled Trump by mass signups to his rally creating whole lot of empty seats. Democrats went along with TikTok ban because they thought they can use the guise of protecting American citizens' privacy and national security as means to score cheap political points. Neither political parties actually care about citizen's privacy because if they did they would have passed a comprehensive data privacy law that covers every social media platforms long time ago.

    Apparently some Trump aid has advised him that he can look like a hero by rescuing TikTok and win the hearts and minds of the youth. Do I think Trump cares about free speech or welfare of people who make a living off of the platform? Hell no. It's all political theater.

    From looking at how TikTok is behaving as the deadline loom ever closer, it's very suspect. If they are actually motivated by profit then one would think they'd be scrambling to find a buyer but they seem completely disinterested in that. It does appear their motives aren't about money but elsewhere. And then all of a sudden there is an exodus to a Xiaohongshu (RedNote or Little Red Book) app which is heavily censored Chinese lifestyle propaganda platform. Maybe I'm being cynical but this feels a bit "influenced".

    When all is said and done I think TikTok is just fishy as hell. Also what I can take away from all this is at least some of the users of TikTok are absolute morons that are easily swayed by misinformation and propaganda.

  • Sorry, not sorry. Life has existed before social media and before TikTok.

    I hope this is a lesson that no one should invest so much of their time or emotional energy into something owned and operated by someone else. This includes but is not limited to Google products, Apple iCloud, Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, etc. These things will all go away one day. Prepare yourself.

    Of course this sucks. If ByteDance cared as much about its users as they claimed, they would have obliged with US demands. They instead chose to shut their system down rather than not collect data and manipulate users.

    I hope everyone has learned they are not the only platform doing this. We should all be very concerned with how our data and viewing habits are used to manipulate us in overt and subconscious ways. We have to put pressure on congress to implement stricter privacy laws in the US. Although, I don’t know how you win an argument against Meta and X. Perhaps we should be voting for legislators who have the best interests of The People in mind? Right, that wouldn’t be American.

    Everything sucks. These platforms are driven only by the best interest of stock holders. It used to be different. The early years of social media were fun and personal and organic. Then they shoved algorithms down our throats and everyone rejoiced.

    People need to take their choices more seriously. We need to put our money where our mouth is and support platforms and makers and creators that align with our values. Vote with your wallet. And when you’re not paying for something, make yourself aware of the terms and conditions. Personally, I will never use a service that asks for my phone number.

    We’ve allowed algorithm-driven corporate-controlled social media to become far too powerful. It’s had an immeasurably negative impact on humanity. And we keep voting for people who want to give more power to the corporations who control our sense of reality.

    With that said, I’d venture to guess this ban will be short lived. The rational makes complete sense (as SCOTUS has agreed) but politics will have more to say.

40 comments