Summary
Despite previously attempting to ban TikTok over national security concerns, Donald Trump now champions the platform, which went offline in the U.S. Sunday under a controversial ban upheld by the Supreme Court.
TikTok is good for Trump because it is a maelstrom of disinformation so massive that even Elon Musk-controlled Twitter cannot compete.
The app’s algorithm spreads disinformation and emotionally manipulative content, which boosts Trump’s messaging.
Critics warn that TikTok fosters disconnection, exploiting empathy to exhaust users and distract them from meaningful real-world action.
I think it just shows that he is for sale. Policy decisions to the highest bidder.
Yes we know this. He literally said on Lies Social that you can buy him out for a billion dollars.
Dollarmocracy
Or or or, hear me out: Trump knows that 170 million Americans use tiktok and banning it is unpopular. It also helps that his billionaire buddy owns 15% of bytedance and tiktok’s CEO has been sucking up to Trump.
You don’t need conspiracies to explain a politician doing something that helps their public perception.
Watching all of this from a place of indifference, it’s absolutely fascinating watching liberals and even conservatives process this whole saga in real-time
It’s one of those increasingly common moments where the lack of ideological coherence creates chaos until a common perspective gets worked out.
Social media is now literally running the country and controlling the faucets on the disinformation. Now they have TikTok too. 1984 is here folks, and more than 2/3 of the country sat back smugly staring at themselves in their precious smartphone mirrors while it happened.
I always had a low opinion of the typical user’s general awareness of security and privacy concerns as I watched the Eternal September unfold (and tried to stay abreast of things and educate myself all the while), but I think it’s getting worse over time.
People clamoring to use things like FB was evidence of that, but now it’s on to…TikTok. If people don’t think that’s a concern, I think they are either actively deluding themselves or just completely oblivious.
Nor is this a “free speech” issue. The right to speak out, even online, has not changed. The government’s authority here is to determine what foreign companies are allowed to operate within our borders, a nearly ironclad power.
This could be true if the ban was content-neutral but, on the contrary, the ban is explicitly intended to limit Americans’ access to content that the government disapproves of. The right to free speech includes the right to hear. Americans have the right to listen to Chinese propaganda if they so choose and banning TikTok is exactly the same sort of censorship (differing only in degree) as the Chinese government’s censorship of information coming from outside China.
The whole idea of using government coercion to control “disinformation” is censorious in a way that violates the 1st amendment. People have the right to speak, the right to listen to, and the right to encourage others to listen to even the things that the government considers to be harmful lies.
I don’t care why Trump reverses the TikTok ban, as long as he does.
