Impending TikTok Ban
What backlash is already occurring?
Impending TikTok Ban
What backlash is already occurring?
“Indeed, the people who once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things — bread and circuses.”-Juvenal
When TikTok first launched I didn’t think too much of it, I’ve never been one to be too big of a fan of social media in general. Years ago I got as far as creating a Myspace and then never used it, and with Facebook, I dragged my feet for years before making one and still have less than a few hundred friends on it.
So when TikTok got popular I saw it as just another app I’d likely skip on using, but eventually, my wife convinced me to try it out, and over time I’ve seen the perks in it.
First off its algorithm is superior to any of the other platforms as far as recommending content that you’ll enjoy, this is one reason that competitors are intimidated by it, they just can’t seem to come up with something as good. The U.S. is all about the “free market” until they get outdone by a foreign company as we’ve seen with foreign diesel engines, electric vehicles, and even cellphones/laptops in the case of Huawei.
The bigger issue however and the reason that the U.S. government is slated to ban the app in six days, is that the platform isn’t under the control of U.S. entities, and doesn’t serve their will in censoring content that they don’t want their public to see.
Since last October TikTok has been the primary platform to expose the U.S. public to actual footage of the genocide being committed by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people. So while government officials and mainstream media personalities get on screen and tell the American people they are sending aid, negotiating a “peaceful resolution” and how “honorable” and “moral” our “allies” are over there fighting “terrorists”, people can get on TikTok and see the horrors of what is actually happening, and the flagrant brutality that the Israeli regime is committing against civilians.
If the U.S. government can’t control the narrative of what they using U.S. taxpayer’s dollars on, if the people realize it isn’t being used on securing peace or spreading democracy…but actually being used to expand and maintain a sphere of influence at the cost of innocent lives…then how will they keep their military recruitment numbers up? How will they keep the populace passive and complacent? The TikTok platform has also helped to spread stories of people’s experiences with the U.S. healthcare industry, people telling the stories of how they’ve had loved ones denied coverage and die due to these algorithms put in place by the insurance industry to arbitrarily deny claims. They’ve found themselves to be empathetic towards the alleged assassin Luigi, and less than sympathetic for the death of the CEO of United Healthcare, which has horrified the ruling class.
The U.S. government is also ignoring the fact that TikTok contributes billions of dollars into the U.S. economy and that millions of small business owners rely on it, and that shutting it down will hit many working-class families hard.
It’s not that the U.S. is worried about the Chinese government knowing about the search histories of U.S. citizens, they’re worried about there being an open platform that doesn’t cater to the propaganda that they’ve worked so hard to maintain.
They’re beginning to realize that the tighter they squeeze their population, the more they allow corporate entities to profiteer off of the people and deny their basic needs by making healthcare, housing, education, and even food out of the financial reach of the people they’re getting dangerously close to a revolution occurring.
So they go back to their playbook of fearmongering, and attempting to distract…but it’s getting much harder for them to do this.
They’re desperate to shut down the discussions, control communication, and prevent any organizing of a real movement from the populace to make meaningful material changes.