Technology

I'm starting to think of Trump as one of those old school firefighters that would set fires and then swoop in to put the fire out lol.

Late to the post, but a friend got this on their phone when they tried opening it again

if people can't go this long without tiktok they're addicted to social media and it should stay banned

So I am assuming most Lemmy people don't use Tiktok or Meta stuff. Here is some things you may or may not already know.

• Shou (CEO) made a parting video praising Trump on the last day
• Shou will be on the stage with all the other tech billionaires during inauguration
• People have noticed the last couple days that FB and Instagram have had a "link your Tiktok account" so you don't lose anything on the platform

I think it's pretty obvious now that Tiktok is going to become a part of Meta one way or another.

Of course they're kissing Trump's ass. How else is anyone gonna get anything done in the next 4 years? American democracy is broken, and under unitary executive theory endorsed by all branches of government the President is basically a king with term limits and no shiny hat. It's no way to run a country, but it's where we're at so why would we expect TikTok to do anything else?

And now Trump gets to be the one who saved TikTok, despite starting the process.

Spreading for awareness, I've been posting this in relevant threads for a week - This is all theater.

trump is going to "save" tik tok after starting the initial push to ban it (for the wrong reasons) to pretend he did something for you. Worst part is that all of the no/low info voters and non voters will eat it up.

It's the equivalent of a person pushing you into the middle of the street and at the very last second, that same person tells the drivers to all stop. "Wow, I owe you my life!"

And now, this adds two layers:

1. You think trump and the Supreme Court are colluding? now they get to say, nah uh!!!! Even though again, this is all convoluted.

2. trump gets to look "stronger" than the "highest court in the land" to help delude the next generation of low info tiktok folks.

P.s. The Chinese "protest" apps are going to mine the FUCK out of these millions of phones in the brief window they have them. Also, when the kids inevitably move back to tiktok, majority of them will leave these other apps installed on their phones, dormant and collecting in the background.

Hey, look over here at the TikTok performative theatrics while we set up an oligarchy and rob you of your labor, your health, and your livelihood.

Tik Tok removed platform access from their US userbase voluntarily.

This was their choice.

The law is literally not even being enforced.

I did some research and now I know why Trump wants to "save" TikTok.

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/how-tiktok-courted-conservatives-before-trumps-win

https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-publications/tiktok-and-white-supremacist-content/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/on-tiktok-misogyny-and-white-supremacy-slip-through-enforcement-gap

https://www.counterextremism.com/press/extremist-content-online-tiktok-accounts-spreading-extreme-right-propaganda-and-glorifying

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/16/congress/tiktok-sponsor-trump-inauguration-party-00198825

This one is especially damning:

TikTok is spending $50,000 on an inauguration party honoring influencers who helped Donald Trump spread his campaign message, according to the party organizer — and it’s scheduled for Sunday, the deadline for the company to spin off from its China-based owner or be banned in the U.S.

CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend.

It's likely just staged bullshit so he can be the savior.

Surreal watching the rest of the internet freaking out. Meanwhile we are just sitting here on our own platforms doing our own things.

im baffled by the blase response by lemmy users to government overreach

And nothing of value was lost.

That second paragraph is just vile. Donny brought this ban into motion and now they say he will save them?

I know bad for democracy and everything but

This app has done nothing positive for my life, arguably began my social media addiction, filled my brain with negative content at the height of COVID and severely impacted my mental health

I don't think governments should ban platforns. But do I think TikTok should have ever existed? No

I wish people knew that TikTok being banned was more about it not suppressing posts about Palestine than national security or whatever else they say. Antony Blinken and Mitt Romney outright said last year it was about stopping people from seeing the truth about Israel committing genocide. If the government actually cared about foreign influence operations they'd regulate data privacy and social media algorithms in some way (idk how, but I'm sure you could) but they obviously won't because US companies manipulating people and stealing their data is totally fine.

Short memories.

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/

Trump isn't going to save them. He's setting it up so one of us cronies will get it.

What I find mad is that people are seriously depressed about this on /r/Tiktok. Yeah sure, I understand small creators now having a tough time having their business disappearing, but people are literally saying that TikTok was their only source of information and that they don't know what to do now??

TikTok was a Chinese intelligence operation in the end.