Great job, US government. You went so overboard with your “TikTok is an evil Chinese app” and deciding to ban it that you’re pushing kids to go even deeper into the Chinese app ecosystem. The US go…
You’re argument is basically that you should have the right to to ruin yourself.
Look, I agree with you that TikTok is bad, but… YES, freedom means the ability to choose, good or bad.
If you want someone to blame for this, blame the US government for allowing US tech companies to become so predatory and gross that young people literally prefer a foreign product that may be profiling them. It’s not like data collection and censorship isn’t rife on Xitter or FB, and the reality for most Americans is that the US government has more ability to use their data to directly harm them than the CCP does. No one is worried that the Chinese government is going to show up in Alabama with CPS in tow because a teen revealed they’re trans online.
I don’t believe for a second people use TikTok because they have objections to the data collecting practices of Reels or whatever. They do it because it managed to be super addictive, and got the network effect going before others could catch up.
That is an interesting phenomenon. I suspect it’s just out of spite, because people not understanding the technology is almost like a new law of the internet, and that it’ll blow over eventually.
If it doesn’t, WTF, basically. People are already getting kicked off of Xiaohongshu for being openly gay.
Look, I agree with you that TikTok is bad, but… YES, freedom means the ability to choose, good or bad.
If you want someone to blame for this, blame the US government for allowing US tech companies to become so predatory and gross that young people literally prefer a foreign product that may be profiling them. It’s not like data collection and censorship isn’t rife on Xitter or FB, and the reality for most Americans is that the US government has more ability to use their data to directly harm them than the CCP does. No one is worried that the Chinese government is going to show up in Alabama with CPS in tow because a teen revealed they’re trans online.
I don’t believe for a second people use TikTok because they have objections to the data collecting practices of Reels or whatever. They do it because it managed to be super addictive, and got the network effect going before others could catch up.
In the beginning, sure. But all the TikTok users actively choosing Chinese alternatives would seem to disagree with that, now.
That is an interesting phenomenon. I suspect it’s just out of spite, because people not understanding the technology is almost like a new law of the internet, and that it’ll blow over eventually.
If it doesn’t, WTF, basically. People are already getting kicked off of Xiaohongshu for being openly gay.
I hate to link to Reddit (and I’m too old to know how to get to the original video), but this also seems pretty relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1i302rf/if_tiktok_being_banned_doesnt_radicalize_you_as/