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I'm Supposed to Have an Opinion on TikTok, Not the Lawlessness of Trump [1]

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Date: 2025-01-22

TikTok is bad.

It is bad for a lot of reasons, most of them having to do with the fact that it is entirely an algorithmically driven social media platform that keeps it algorithm secret. We know that the algorithm pushes neo-Nazi content to people who wouldn’t otherwise see such content. It does the same for misogynistic content. Since you cannot escape the algorithm on TikTok, it is an especially bad social media platform, manipulating your emotions for engagement. That the algorithm is subject to control by the Chinese government makes the situation even worse.

The argument that all social media platforms have algorithms that manipulate people is not an argument for not regulating TikTok but an argument for regulating all algorithmic social media platforms. Except many of the people who use the “what about X” argument then turn around and complain that either algorithms are speech or that section 230 should prevent such regulations. I am not, as you can probably guess, persuaded by either argument.

If algorithms are speech, then they are the speech of the platforms and the companies that create the algorithms, not third-party speech and thus the companies can and should be liable for them. If algorithms aren’t that kind of speech, then they are products and subject to any kind of product liability regulations that any other product would be subject to. The idea that the government cannot regulate an algorithm is silly on the face of it, especially a product controlled by a foreign adversary.

The argument that millions of people who make a living on the platform are now penniless also carries little weight with me. That is an occupational hazard for anyone who depends on a platform for their business — remember how Fakebook’s fraudulent push to video destroyed media outlets and how Google’s change in their search algorithm did make and break businesses? If you argue that a government should not cause such changes, then you are just arguing that a government should never regulate anything if it could have an adverse effect on businesses. Too bad your Pinto exploded, but, hey, car salesmen really need their jobs! Nice planet we had, but climate change cannot compare to an oil executive’s year-end bonus!

There, you have my opinion on TikTok for what it’s worth.

And it’s not worth much because the US is no longer a nation of laws. The law forcing the sale of TikTok was passed by Congress, signed by the Executive, and upheld by the Supreme Court. In our system, it is the law. Trump, however, has just declared by fiat that it is actually not the law. He has directed the DOJ to not enforce the law and to tell companies that they won’t be liable for hosting TikTok. Legally, this is nonsense. The law is clear. And while it is true that sometimes laws are selectively enforced, that generally has to do with allocating resources and the ability to prove guilt. In this case, guilt is easy to prove and there is no need to allocate resources. Any idiot can see the app in Google or Apple’s app store. We are simply not going to enforce a valid law because the president has decided that he can rule by fiat.

I may not be a clever first amendment lawyer or TikTok influencer, but that seems a wee bit more important than defending the principle that algorithms and the companies that produce them should never be held to account.

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