TikTok could be banned in the United States within the next week. This is bad for all of us -- even if you don't care about TikTok. Let me explain why.
What a well-timed piece. Was literally just thinking about Xiaohongshu/RedNote. It felt amusing (patriotic even?) to see the American people responding to our government banning a “foreign” app with an exodus to an “even more foreign” app.
First came to mind, a joke along the lines of “why do all this but not recreate Vine?”
Then, of course, the sobering realization that many Americans, including one of the literal creators of Vine, have tried to recreate Vine and failed. And even if the actual Vine itself were brought back, any realistic version of that scenario in this timeline would likely involve Elon Musk, so I doubt I’d trust it much.
All this digression to say that TikTok has become the definitive platform for this new avenue of content and info exchange. Pursuing a platform ban like this or insisting on an “American version” is just shameful and feels like an outdated and ill-advised play at best. So, I guess I can’t be too surprised it looks like my government might actually do it.
I have never used TikTok because of all of the news surrounding data privacy. I am curious about the platform, especially if it leans a bit more to the left. Are they really that much worse than Meta, Twitter, and Google for data privacy or is that just a load of propaganda?
Dissenting voice - extremely happy that this is happening and should have happened sooner. I get it it's tough but we're destroying the brain of a generation and giving a foreign government all the power; in fact it's itself banned in its own country.
We need people and kids to read more and have less garbage auto-cut videos that cater to gambling addiction tactics.
We can do better than this by far, and it's a national and generational harm that we're avoiding. Red note too - it's going to keep happening because they know it's effective and a great way to destroy an entire generation of competition from the inside. Influencers are way overrated and we need to refocus on specialists and the educated.
This ban was baked in as soon as the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party decided that Tiktok, under what is ultimately CCP control, was a threat to the US. That decision was bipartisan; there was no going back.
While irrelevant to the Committee, its so painful to see a left-leaning social media platform perish. Are progressives good at building social media companies? Maybe we should ask Chris Bouzy over at Spoutible. It's a hard go.
What a well-timed piece. Was literally just thinking about Xiaohongshu/RedNote. It felt amusing (patriotic even?) to see the American people responding to our government banning a “foreign” app with an exodus to an “even more foreign” app.
First came to mind, a joke along the lines of “why do all this but not recreate Vine?”
Then, of course, the sobering realization that many Americans, including one of the literal creators of Vine, have tried to recreate Vine and failed. And even if the actual Vine itself were brought back, any realistic version of that scenario in this timeline would likely involve Elon Musk, so I doubt I’d trust it much.
All this digression to say that TikTok has become the definitive platform for this new avenue of content and info exchange. Pursuing a platform ban like this or insisting on an “American version” is just shameful and feels like an outdated and ill-advised play at best. So, I guess I can’t be too surprised it looks like my government might actually do it.
I'm so sad. Honestly, just sad. There are so many good people in the world and we want to stick together.
I have never used TikTok because of all of the news surrounding data privacy. I am curious about the platform, especially if it leans a bit more to the left. Are they really that much worse than Meta, Twitter, and Google for data privacy or is that just a load of propaganda?
Dissenting voice - extremely happy that this is happening and should have happened sooner. I get it it's tough but we're destroying the brain of a generation and giving a foreign government all the power; in fact it's itself banned in its own country.
We need people and kids to read more and have less garbage auto-cut videos that cater to gambling addiction tactics.
We can do better than this by far, and it's a national and generational harm that we're avoiding. Red note too - it's going to keep happening because they know it's effective and a great way to destroy an entire generation of competition from the inside. Influencers are way overrated and we need to refocus on specialists and the educated.
This ban was baked in as soon as the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party decided that Tiktok, under what is ultimately CCP control, was a threat to the US. That decision was bipartisan; there was no going back.
While irrelevant to the Committee, its so painful to see a left-leaning social media platform perish. Are progressives good at building social media companies? Maybe we should ask Chris Bouzy over at Spoutible. It's a hard go.
I appreciate this piece..I was mostly indifferent because I use TikTok minimally but this is b.s. Le sigh