On the TikTok debacle this week:

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I don't wanna be like, "hey, does it seem to anyone else like a whole lot of people who probably didn't vote for Kamala Harris because they didn't like the Biden Administation's policy on Gaza just threw their principles into the trash over an app?" But yeah.

Oh well. I guess we'll see what happens when Trump has 50% ownership, and it basically becomes a state-run propaganda firehose like Xitter. (Instead of, you know, the propaganda firehose it already is currently.)

I understand what TikTok means to people. I haven't ever really stopped mourning 00s-era Livejournal, after all. But at the end of the day, it's an app. I have seen so many of those come and go over the years. I was there for Geocities, Myspace, Livejournal, and Vine. And it feels like people care more for an app than they ever cared for civil rights, safe schools, or the safety and rights of immigrants, PoC and LGBTIQ people, or even Palestinian lives. And now those people think of Trump as their savior. But let's see what they think of him a year from now.

All sorts of things are starting to come out about the executive orders about day one roundups of immigrants and an executive order essentially denying the existence of Transpeople. But hey, people can access TikTok again!

As for me: for the most part I'm going back to Web 1.0 and Mastodon, like I threatened to do weeks ago.

It boils down to this: stuff like this will inevitably occur with any "Web 2.0" social media platform, or any site or app that is not owned and operated and controlled by its userbase. Don't like it? Then seize the means of production.

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah the thing about 2000s-era LiveJournal is that we all left it when its ownership changed in such a way that it was very clearly being influenced by a government hostile to much of our identities and our reality. It sucked -- I lost touch with people I still miss, I was just thinking of one the other day -- but we did it. We made the sacrifice and it was worth it and we found new communities and new good people and resources we would never have encountered if we stayed on the old bad place as it got worse and worse.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Yup, exactly. We saw what was happening, we made the effort to leave on our own. But studies have been done about how Tiktok weaponizes the algorithm to be particularly addicting dopamine hamster wheel, and that may be what we're dealing with here.

[sabotabby]

I hope this place counts as Web 1.0. Are we connected on Mastodon, btw?

Everyone is fleeing all the social medias, which makes it hard to maintain both my personal and professional networks, but fracturing networks is part of the plan. And how real were they, anyway?

[numb3r_5ev3n]

Yup, this definitely counts as Web 1.0! Since it's technically the continuation of Livejournal. I'm on retro.pizza on mastodon as numb3r5ev3n, but I might check out other servers.

[lb_lee]

What’d I miss about TikTok? I thought it was getting banned with the new regime?

[numb3r_5ev3n]

It's complicated, but basically Trump said he'd unban it if he had 50% ownership. So they restored access to all the users, and it seemed like there was great rejoicing, to the point where, in the word of one pundit, "Trump just won the allegiance of Gen Z/Gen Alpha." But today people are already getting banned or getting posts removed for posting things critical of Trump, or just "Free Palestine/Free Gaza." And people are mad about that, as they should be.

EDIT: Here are some links about the issue:

The Tiktok ban explained:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tiktok-ban-sunday-what-to-know-rcna188256 and https://www.middleeasteye.net/trending/social-media-erupts-over-trump-inauguration-tiktok-ban-and-gaza-ceasefire

Tiktok service restored: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-voluntarily-shuts-down-in-u-s-divest-or-ban-law-set-to-take-effect/

However: https://bsky.app/profile/vaguebiscuit.bsky.social/post/3lg6otzuc6s2i

My opinion is close to this, frankly, though maybe not as harsh as this poster:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion/comments/1i54rw9/youre_not_upset_about_the_tiktok_ban_because_the/?rdt=33878

I never liked or used Tiktok because of its addictive nature and the fact that it is already a misinformation/disinformation/propaganda firehose, and the fact that I have already had a hell of a time quitting or even curtailing my Web 2.0 social media use on a personal level. Also, a lot of infosec folks were leery of it from launch, which was enough for me to be suspicious of it, too. (Sorry for all the edits!)