Posted on: January 11, 2025, 6:15 am
I was just watching a TikTok about the upcoming ban, and the lady said something like, "They want to ban me from watching Chinese TikTok, as I watch it on my Chinese-made phone, in my Chinese-made clothes." That got me thinking.
Why is TikTok such a threat to national security, but outsourcing American jobs to China over the last 30 years is not? The answer seems to be that America primarily caters to corporate interests. The ban appears to be more about protecting Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, as well as X, than about any genuine threat TikTok poses. The notion that TikTok is harmful to its users seems like a scapegoat.
When it comes to content, American-owned social media apps like X, Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook are far more toxic and damaging to society. They also collect astronomically more user data. And let’s not even start on Google and the evil ways they operate. TikTok is the only platform I can access right now where I consistently have a positive experience. So why is that considered a national security issue? 🤔
As for the ban, all they can really do is make Apple and Google remove the app from their app stores. People would still be able to access TikTok through a web browser or sideload the app if they wanted to. Depending on the demand, easy workarounds will likely pop up.