(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



How DJT Stole TikTok as a PR move. And Everyone Fell For It. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-19

On the evening of January 18, 2025, ninety minutes ahead of schedule, TikTok went dark in the US. Millions of Americans were suddenly unable to open the app, met with the message that thanks to US law, the app is now unavailable.

Also as part of the message, was the hope that the incoming Trump presidency might save the app.

This was the plan all along. And somehow, many people (specifically those not using the app), didn't see that coming.

Long-time users of TikTok, however, have been talking about this for months. Ever since the bill was introduced, many users of the application spotted how incredibly similar the language of the bill was to the meltdown by Trump in 2020, when his Tulsa rally was famously trolled by TikTokers, utterly humiliating him. He vowed vengeance, and thanks to his followers in Congress, not only got that vengeance but set himself up to become the conquering hero not just to the millions of users of TikTok, but to the tech oligarchs that have been coveting the app since it became so popular.

What most people who have never spent time on the app fail to understand about it is that it isn't just a mindless dance- and recipie-sharing app for Gen Z. Certainly, if that's what you're into, you can find lots of content like that. But the thing about the app that made it so dangerous to the oligarchs who have purchased our country is the algorithm. The algorithm that wasn't under their control and wasn't for sale. The algorithm that allowed like-minded people to find each other and communicate in real-time. That made mass organization possible, to the point where thousands of people could simultaneously troll Trump's rallys. Where thousands of people could boycott corporations (remember Kelloggs? How their cereal prices inexplicably went from ridiculous to suddenly on clearance? Gee, wonder what happened there...).

This same algorithm allowed small businesses to thrive. Over $24 billion dollars of GDP was attributed to the more than 7 million small businesses active on TikTok. This was because rather than having to pay exorbitant advertising fees, one just uploaded a video of your product and the algorithm would allow your market to find you. Millions of Americans relied on income from this app, not only as small businesses but as content creators (you could earn a pretty decent living posting on TikTok as a side hustle. Many made it their full-time job).

The majority of people using TikTok were Democrats or left-leaning. There were plenty of Republicans and Independents there as well, sure, but liberalism was absolutely the dominant culture. But was it Communist? Hardly. In all my years on TikTok, the only time I ever saw anything pro-China was AFTER the ban was signed into law and millions of TikTok users downloaded the RedNote app as a massive middle finger to the US government. That got really interesting, as suddenly there was a massive cross-cultural exchange between average Americans and average Chinese citizens. That's when those Americans found out what the US government REALLY doesn't want us to be aware of: How truly dystopian our country has become. Grocery prices, rents and homeownership, mass transit and Healthcare, not to mention gun violence and retirement benefits...how is it that The Greatest Country On Earth TM is such a hellscape while them Commie Chinese have it so good? Likewise, how is it that the most outrageous and obvious propaganda about the US that the Chinese government feeds its citizens turns out to be actually not only true, but horribly worse than their propaganda makes it out to be?

This was the National Security threat posed by TikTok. Not that the Chinese government was spying on us, but that American citizens were waking up and actually talking to each other like human beings. That Americans were forming communities and able to support themselves independent of the corporate overlords. That Americans were getting news from independent journalists, not filtered through the billionaire-owned media.

When President Biden spoke of the oligarchy that was "taking form" in this country, he was only off by several decades. The oligarchy has been fully formed since the 90s and has only been amassing power and control since. With the incoming Second Coming of Trump, they have solidified their dominance, and only swift action by agencies outside of the current administration can curtail that. Nevertheless, the banning of the TikTok app has been a very calculated move to solidify not just the power of the oligarchs (and by extension, Trump, as he has ever been their tool), but to subjugate the sizable portion of the population of this country that has been waking up to just how bad it's gotten.

The rabid Sinophobia and Red Scare tactics are specifically tailored to the Boomers who still somehow believe in American Exceptionalism. It's propaganda, plain and simple, designed to keep Americans from looking outside of our bubble, so we remain blinded to how exceptionally owned and degraded we have become to the new American aristocracy that buys off our Congress and Supreme Court, and ultimately our entire government. The oligarchs are not limited to the US, but operate around the world. Keeping us fighting amongst ourselves has long been the tactic of the ruling elites, and so long as we never really talk to each other, it works like a charm.

For those that bought the propaganda about TikTok, it must seem as though I'm talking crazy. However, the fact that Trump engineered the banning of TikTok as well as it's eventual reinstatement is a matter of record. In 1930s Germany, they banned books to prevent the spread of ideas. In the digital age, they ban apps for the same reason.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/19/2297766/-How-DJT-Stole-TikTok-as-a-PR-move-And-Everyone-Fell-For-It?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.