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The app was shutdown a couple of hours ago in the US and this was the message all TikTok users saw when they opened the app.[1] The same guy who pushed for a b

• elfbargpt 2y ago
  I have a feeling the ban is likely the result of "special interest" groups as opposed to a "classified briefing"
  • lordofgibbons 2y ago
    It's obvious the app is being banned because for once we had unbiased news about Israel/Palestine and the ongoing genocide. A media outlet not easy to censor is unacceptable to the Israeli lobby, and therefore unacceptable to our politicians.
    • a_wild_dandan 2y ago
      People will downvote you for revealing this, but it's the truth. I saw it on TikTok, after all.
      • seventhtiger 2y ago
        Leading politicians said it explicitly. It's been discussed in the news since the conflict started.
        • 9dev 2y ago
          It’s not. The effort started earlier. It’s just a convenient narrative.
          • seventhtiger 2y ago
            Based on what do you say it's not? How is it a convenient narrative? The ban both could have started earlier and been pushed to completion based on more recent factors. Lawmakers talked about propaganda potential relating to Palestine directly, multiple times. https://theintercept.com/2025/01/09/tiktok-ban-israel-palestine-republicans/ https://theintercept.com/2025/01/09/tiktok-ban-israel-palest...
            • 9dev 2y ago
              The whole TikTok legislation was not created to suppress Palestinian views, even if that may have been a side effect of it, and repeating that does not make it true. It’s a convenient narrative because it sounds like „the government“ or „they“ want to conceal the truth, and suppress the honest rebels. It’s a trope. Again, it may well be that some parts of the government feel like the side effects are beneficial, and I’m not commenting on that. But spinning the story to say this was the whole purpose of the law is simply not the truth, and instead pushing a certain narrative.
              • seventhtiger 2y ago
                The choice doesn't have to be binary. There can be multiple factors, which should all be discussed. Dismissing a frequently reported on factor that mentioned by officials requires a higher burden than vague commentary on narrative shaping. Trying to minimize it despite factual statements is its own narrative.
                • 9dev 2y ago
                  I don't disagree with you, and I don't dismiss any factor, but oppose the altered storyline of events offered by GP, which is simply not factually true. Subtly twisting history into a more convenient version may be presidential territory now, but that doesn't mean we should let a proper discussion devolve into shallow, black-and-white stories just because those are easier to understand.
    • FranzFerdiNaN 2y ago
      The process to ban it was started years earlier.
      • serial_dev 2y ago
        It was, but why did the ban only succeed now? Edit: to be honest, it is an honest question. My guess is that the uniparty can’t afford a popular platform they don’t fully control and where there is significant dissent. On Russia-Ukraine, the voices against US propaganda didn’t gain enough traction for them to worry about it. With Israel-Palestine, the opposition was for the first time reaching people who they previously never could.
        • suraci 2y ago
          because the election campaign has already ended?
        • Aloisius 2y ago
          > It was, but why did the ban only succeed now? This has been going on for years now. The Navy banned TikTok because of security concerns in 2019. Then in 2020, the US announced it was considering banning them. ByteDance planned to divest by selling to an American company. The Chinese government disagreed. TikTok sued and that took a while to go through the courts. Then TikTok tried negotiating to avoid having to divest for a couple years by placing all private user data in the US, but later leaked recordings made it clear that Chinese employees still had access. A law to ban TikTok on US government devices was then passed. Then a law to ban TikTok unless they divest was drafted, but it took a couple years to pass and then that had to wind its way through the courts.
    • hmry 2y ago
      For those who don't know, Mitt Romney said this. "Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians, relative to other social media sites — it's overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts."
      • surfaceofthesun 2y ago
        Just to add on: I don’t imagine discussion of what’s happening to the Uyghurs is getting much traction in TikTok either. Movement against TikTok started started with the Trump admin well before Oct 7, 2023 [1]. I think this is less Israel / Palestine and a better explanation lies elsewhere. Namely, that anti-China sentiment has been growing for a while now and Meta has plenty of money to burn (on the Metaverse, Lobbyists, etc.) The actual law was passed after accounts of spying on Hong Kong citizens were made public [2]. ——— 1 — https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/ https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/ex... 2 — https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-bytedance-user-data-d257d98125f69ac80f983e6067a84911 https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-bytedance-user-data-...
        • lordofgibbons 2y ago
          The effort to ban tiktok stalled for a few years due to public backlash. Only after the strong shift in sentiment by younger Americans on Israel's genocidal actions did the effort renew with vigor.
      • cudgy 2y ago
        Sure. Everyone reads the 100 page TOS for every site and app they use, right?
    • null_deref 2y ago
      It baffles me that people can seem to comprehend that only the United States government has interests in its media outlets, and the authoritarian second to the US in the global stage don’t. 1. TikTok in the westernized form is banned in China. 2. When some people tried to move to rednote (the in the open Chinese app), they were getting banned in the first few hours for being gay and other ideas that came with them, so it’s very entirely plausible that also TikTok is heavily regulated from the officials of a foreign actor.
      • danielspace23 2y ago
        There's plenty of openly gay Chinese RedNote influencers, as there have been for years now [1]. I don't know why you're pushing disinformation. The Americans getting banned probably just violated their ToS, since they were in Chinese and they couldn't understand them. [1] https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result?keyword=gay https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result?keyword=gay (requires log-in)
        • wordofx 2y ago
          He’s not pushing disinformation.
      • sorushn 2y ago
        US is the only state that pretends to champion absolute freedom of speech, to the point of citing violations of it when imposing sanctions on other nations.
    • brazzy 2y ago
      "unbiased" as in: maximally biased to serve Chinese interests.
      • johnnyanmac 2y ago
        I'll go against my better judgment and ask: What are China's relations to Palestine and Israel? I genuinely do not have the slightest clue about that dynamic.
        • Applejinx 2y ago
          For that matter, what are China's interests regarding Russia/US? It seems like China would lose a lot of money in the event of America taking a major dive, but they could be preparing to make the case that they are a more stable regime with a more stable currency. I feel like that would be aligned with China's interests.
          • petre 2y ago
            > For that matter, what are China's interests regarding Russia/US? "If these two get into a fight, we can move on with our Taiwan agenda." That's why Trump is pushing the EU to properly finance their defense, so the US can concentrate on Asia Pacific. He signalled this during his Notre Dame meeting with Macron, France being the only European NATO ally with a reliable army and interests in the region. To Trump, China is the new US rival, Russia is merely a bigger Iran with nukes and more advanced tech. I don't see him giving Tiktok a break.
        • matwood 2y ago
          Possibly none. But the logic goes like this - China sees that amplifying positive Palestinian stories serve to destabilize US discourse so they put their thumb on the scale to push those over positive Israeli stories. And we know this type of thing works because we see it everyday with US internal propaganda. The last thing the US needs is an adversary with a direct line to the US populace controlling what they see. Also, I'm not even talking about misinformation, just pushing what stories are seen and not seen. Once you add in misinformation and bots it's pretty wild how easy it appears to control the population.
    • gymbeaux 2y ago
      This reminds me of the Al Jazeera America (“AJAM”) news channel. They weren’t banned per sé, but it’s obvious they were doomed from the start. An Arab news network operating in the United States… if you think TikTok had a target painted on its back for being Chinese-owned… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_America https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_America
      • victorbjorklund 2y ago
        They arent "just" an arab media. They are financed and controlled by the dictatorship of qatar. That is like claiming Russia Today was domed because it was a "slavic" network. No it was domed because it is propaganda financed and controlled by a dictatorship.
        • roenxi 2y ago
          Technically the BBC is a state broadcasting service subject to King Charles who, AFAIK, nobody voted for. State run propaganda networks are actually a pretty good source of information; they are well resourced and have a vested interest in being perceived as high-credibility so they can tip the scale on a small number of issues critical to the state. And good propaganda is mostly done by omission and careful fact selection, although a lot of the bit-player dictatorships aren't competent enough to handle good propaganda.
          • AshamedCaptain 2y ago
            It always rub me the wrong way that YouTube puts a "this is a state actor" disclaimer on a video uploaded by the well-known public media corporation of a western democracy, but put zero disclaimer whatsoever on a random video uploaded by an anonymous account created 2 minutes ago.
        • pydry 2y ago
          And Al Arabiya isnt banned because...?
          • 2y ago
    • UltraSane 2y ago
      [flagged]
    • corimaith 2y ago
      What evidence do you have that preexisting news coverage was biased regarding Israel/Palestine? From many Israeli perspective, much of MSM is biased against Israel! And funny enough, I can see that repeating pattern for every interest group. Left-Wingers say MSM is all Right-Wing and biased against them, Right-Wingers say MSM is taken over by the Woke Mob. There are dozens of contradictory narratives depending on who you ask, what makes your paticular narrative more compelling than the competing narratives?
  • bjourne 2y ago
    "major major major generational problem … We have a TikTok problem, we have a Gen-Z problem." https://www.liberationnews.org/israels-pinkwashing-task-force-aims-to-crush-growing-palestine-solidarity-on-u-s-campuses/ https://www.liberationnews.org/israels-pinkwashing-task-forc...
    • dekelpilli 2y ago
      Worth noting: > In a phone call leaked by the Tehran Times
      • lordofgibbons 2y ago
        It's a recorded audio file, not an opinion or hearsay, so I don't think the leaking organization matters. Would you feel better if an anonymous user uploaded it to Reddit/Twitter/Tiktok?
        • KennyBlanken 2y ago
          NYT, WaPo, etc would disclose whether they had been able to verify the source or authenticity of the recording in some way. A state-controlled newspaper in an autocratic county? It could be something they did verify as true and just happens to align with their agenda - or it could be nonsense and they know it. Or they couldn't just shrugged and said "makes the US look bad, run it." I think most people don't appreciate the levels of internal review and fact-checking that go on when a national paper in the US ends up with a big story in its lap.
          • roenxi 2y ago
            NYT, WaPo, etc aren't very likely to publish it. It'd be in the same bucket as Jeff Epstein - politically toxic and the majors aren't going to take the lead drawing attention to it even if it is plausible. Facts would need to be in the public sphere for a while and gaining traction before they pick it up. It might be the Iranians making stuff up, although realistically that sort of activity is what should be expected without any leaks at all. It has been obvious since around 2016 that the corporate media doesn't have the ability to single-handily dominate the narrative any more and that will impact national security propaganda because, you know, what military would be stupid enough to leave that sort of messaging to chance?
  • logicchains 2y ago
    Special interest groups that spend a huge amount of money to unseat representatives who go against their interests: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/16/congress-election-pro-israel-lobby-aipac https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/16/cong...
  • mikae1 2y ago
    The new president is populist. Once the rage of the TikTokrs is overwhelming, he's going to find a way to reinstate it.
    • KennyBlanken 2y ago
      He is populist second, and transactional first and foremost. He always has put himself, namely his vanity, first.
      • schwartzworld 2y ago
        Vanity first, then wallet.
      • richrichie 2y ago
        [flagged]
      • AlexandrB 2y ago
        I don't know how you think other politicians operate, but their self-interest always comes before the interests of their constituents (maybe there is the odd exception).
    • nico 2y ago
      And loves being the hero. When the app was taken down, there was a generic message about the ban. Then 1 hour later, it was changed to include: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!” I wonder what happened behind the scenes. This gives me flashbacks of the signed stimulus checks
      • bitexploder 2y ago
        Carter, Reagan, and some hostages, for example.
        • nico 2y ago
  • chvid 2y ago
    A special interest group called Meta.
    • pbiggar 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • onemoresoop 2y ago
        That is certainly tipping the scales in this case
  • nico 2y ago
    Of course. TT is to China as WMDs were to Iraq No real anything presented to the American public, just handwaving and finger pointing It just barely needs to make sense and it becomes the center of the conversation, derailing any meaningful or real discussion Very effective propaganda
    • krona 2y ago
      If what you say is true then we should've expected a buyer to come forward, or at least signal some interest in buying the platform, surely?
      • nico 2y ago
        Not sure why it would imply that However, there’s been a lot of people not just signaling but openly announcing they are vying for the purchase. Like Kevin O’Leary, who said he’s offering $20b in cash to buy TT
  • nico 2y ago
    It’s very telling that the TT ban was not a standalone bill, but rather just one item of a bill that included $26 billion in aid for Israel, $13b for Ukraine and $8b for Taiwan Congress can’t even agree on the federal govt budget, but they can almost unanimously agree to support war, and banning TT
    • scarab92 2y ago
      If ByteDance's interest in TikTok was purely commercial, they would have made the commercial decision to spin out the US market into a US-listed public company or sold it to a US buyer. The fact that they chose to shut down instead, strongly suggests, that they have interests in TikTok beyond financial.
      • JKCalhoun 2y ago
        That doesn't follow. A third option is: shut down, wait for the pushback and for things to return to how they were before. And it might just be working.
        • scarab92 2y ago
          There's no guarantee that will happen, and even if it does, TikTok will likely have lost marketshare by being unavailable for a period of time. A financially motivated actor would have avoided the damage by spinning it out. They likely could have even kept a large minority share.
      • HotHotLava 2y ago
        Google also opted to pull out of China instead of selling their Chinese operations to a domestic company. Does it imply that Google had interests beyond financial when operating in China? I think it's more likely that they don't want the brand name dilution that comes from having a separate TikTok US that's probably going to be a shittier version of the original since it doesn't have the original algorithm (which isn't allowed to be exported) or the original TikTok engineers working on it.
• extheat 2y ago
  > made them vote together across party lines Ha, is that uniparty vote supposed to be something meaningful? If the government had true concerns, they could 1) be aired to the public and 2) other senators like Thomas Massie and Rand Paul would not be speaking against the ban. People can change their views and minds. It's only a problem when you lie and pretend you didn't. Pres Biden signed the law and could suspend it now if he wanted, but he chose not to do it as it'd be contradictory to his own signing. And of course soon-to-be President Trump will get the credit for reverting it. Nobody cares about the details beyond those invested into politik.
  • daemoens 2y ago
    It's meaningful because it's one of the few things congress could actually pass. You can count on one hand the number of bills that passed this year with that kind of support that wasn't something like a budget bill.
  • kgen 2y ago
    Or maybe occam's razor suggests that there's indeed something more concerning about usage of the app that we aren't privy to?
    • bendbro 2y ago
      Yes, occam's razor would suggest the government randomly decided exactly now was the time to start working in our best interests, and also those interests are super secret and have absolutely nothing to do with recent geopolitical happenings nor anything to do with the stated beliefs of the politicians driving the government.
      • kgen 2y ago
        I don't know why you think it's randomly (or recently) decided -- it started in 2020 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_...), culminating in this act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_Americans_from_Foreign_Adversary_Controlled_Applications_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protecting_Americans_from_Fore...) banning the app, which passed 360-58. Have you ever gotten 36 people to agree to something, let alone 360? There's obviously more to this that we aren't aware of.
• sirisaysgpt 2y ago
  [flagged]
  • suraci 2y ago
    why it's about Russia? are Russians a part of this too?
    • simion314 2y ago
      >why it's about Russia? are Russians a part of this too? reply Yes, Russian bot farms work hard on TikTok. Algorithms and bot farms have no right for "free speech".
      • suraci 2y ago
        Are they in the room with us right now? Does they also faked opinions about Isreal and Gaza? It's horrible, how should we identify them?
        • simion314 2y ago
          >Are they in the room with us right now? This is well known but ou can contionue to pdo your job pretending it is not. Independent group also could prove this, it is easy, thousands of accounts that were created at the same time, then slept for years are activated at the same time and spread same content. Ruzzia was very proud by the cyber troll army, did they start denying it now? And now do you belive their Mistier of Invasion ? I mean they are still reporting that they are always downing 100% of the drones but the debries sometimes hit the target, sometimes cigarrates or lighting cause fires... so please let's ignore everything those criminals say. Do you pretend bot farms do not exist? >It's horrible, how should we identify them? Social Media can identify them if they want. As a regular users in general you can spot a bot account if it is new or hybernated for years and just started posting. But the issue is with bots that vote, give lies this ones are used to boost content so the algorithm pushes that agenda in fron of real users. but having many bot accounts increase their evaluation so they are not putting effort into silencing them.
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• seydor 2y ago
  Blatantly pandering to Donald Trump is the new ESG, DEI and woke combined for silicon valleys
  • matwood 2y ago
    Haha. DEI is gone unless it’s pro-Trump.
• amatecha 2y ago
  I wonder how much ByteDance got from the incoming administration to pull that stunt. Super shady. "We voluntarily shut down our service in your country (er, I mean, we HAD TO, for real!) but don't worry, a true hero is soon arriving to save the day!"
  • elfbargpt 2y ago
    There are much bigger factors at play than a few billion dollars
    • amatecha 2y ago
      Word, I imagine there are all kinds of shenanigans at play, I'm just not spending that much effort thinking about it. We'll never know the complete story on any of this stuff. Maybe in tens of years, if ever.
    • gitaarik 2y ago
      You mean more money? Because in the end it's always about money. Well about power really, but money is the main means to get that.
      • johnnyanmac 2y ago
        Definitely power... bought by billionaires. A few government officials outright said they want to be able to control the narrative.
    • bryanrasmussen 2y ago
      probably not for the guy who gets the few billion dollars.
      • elfbargpt 2y ago
        Haha fair. But I don't think any company should be strong-armed by another nation into selling. Meta would never be allowed to sell their "Chinese arm" to a domestic Chinese entity...part of the reason there isn't one
• chvid 2y ago
  Biden could have cut a deal with TikTok instead of this. That would have left the US with a least one major social media not in the pocket of Trump.
  • epolanski 2y ago
    They gave bytedance plenty of time to to sell. And TikTok would've not been cheap. I'm not a fan of the ban, mind you, but it's not like they were ordered to leave the country.
    • chvid 2y ago
      As it looks now Trump will facilitate a deal within 90 days - Biden could have done that and left the US with a much healthier media landscape. You are free to call Biden more principled but to me it looks like a shot in the foot.
    • suraci 2y ago
      Sounds like the mafia. I wish CPC could do the same thing to Telsa and Apple, or even to kidnap Tim Cook just like how they kidnapped Meng Wanzhou, gee, that would be thrilling
      • epolanski 2y ago
        But the Chinese actually have very stringent law that makes operating there impossible.
      • girvo 2y ago
        The CCP flat out bans most western countries from even operating, and has absolutely kidnapped businesspeople (and normal civilians).
      • motorest 2y ago
        > Sounds like the mafia. You're taking a decision to protect national interests that safeguards investor's interests, and here you are spinning it with "mafia" nonsense. Pray tell, how do you address the problem of having a totalitarian regime manipulating and spying on your whole country? Do you try to shut down the operation? Or do you argue they should continue their psyops operations because otherwise it "sounds like the mafia"?
• bilekas 2y ago
  This is bizarre.. Maybe I'm wrong but is a president even allowed just unilaterally decide to revoke a law ? Maybe the US should just create some privacy protections instead ?
  • jbombadil 2y ago
    My understanding is that the law doesn’t ban TikTok. The law gives the president the power to ban TikTok. So the president can elect not to use said power.
    • yobid20 2y ago
      The law quite clearly states bytedance aka tiktok so yea tiktok is 100% banned and the penalty is massive fines that would essentially bankrupt them.
      • sethammons 2y ago
        The law quite clearly says it is the president's call. It is a new presidential power. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521/text#H9CE7920E18BA4AE4AB50852D1350AC0F https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521...
        • mwigdahl 2y ago
          It is the President’s call for any _additional_ applications. It is not his call for TikTok or any other ByteDance applications.
      • benmmurphy 2y ago
        if the law explicitly says bytedance and there is no way for bytedance to avoid it then its a bill of attainder and unconstitutional. presumably, they have worded the law in a way that avoids this for example by letting the president remove bytedance for being in violation if he considers them no longer in violation.
  • helsinkiandrew 2y ago
• deleted 2y ago
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• bloomingkales 2y ago
  https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/05/06/senator-romney-antony-blinken-tiktok-ban-israel-palestinian-content https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/05/06/senato... Vs https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/iran-tiktok-ban-israel-adl-greenblatt-conspiracy-theory/ https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/iran-tiktok... Mitch Hedberg: My belt holds my pants up, but the belt loops hold my belt up. I don't really know what's happening down there. Who is the real hero?
  • markisus 2y ago
    I had to think about this. It’s actually your own skin providing the frictional force that holds your pants up!
    • Eduard 2y ago
      it's your butt
• squarefoot 2y ago
  It will return, and very soon. 100% sure. They just need to turn it into something they can control through a local "broker" while maintaining some compatibility with the platform; 170 million users willing to be indoctrinated by government propaganda are hard to ignore.
  • teknologist 2y ago
    It won't be anywhere near as popular as it was. The average user has the app "TikTok" and that's as far as they will ever go to get access.
    • squarefoot 2y ago
      The name will remain the same; most users probably won't even notice any difference.
    • onemoresoop 2y ago
      It will be obvious when the feed will change and be alliged with the other actors.
• mola 2y ago
  Gee I wonder if el presidente will have personal editorial access...
• petre 2y ago
  Yeah, he's gonna save it by forcing them to sell it to X, Meta or to Truth Social.
• pavlov 2y ago
  To save you a click, the message displayed on TikTok reads: - - "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!" - - That last paragraph is 100% the language of authoritarian regimes. "We are fortunate to have the Leader's personal attention!" — and he hasn't even taken office yet. Incredible.
  • realusername 2y ago
    Are they wrong? Tiktok being available again does depend on Trump and Trump alone. It sounds like an authoritarian regime because it is one.
    • pavlov 2y ago
      True, yet it’s still a jolt to see it laid so bare. Public communications by corporations were like this in 1930s Germany and Italy, and more recently in 2020s Russia.
• bigfatkitten 2y ago
  Trump's change of heart is because he found Tiktok valuable to his election campaign. https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-it-could-be-worth-keeping-tiktok-us-little-while-2024-12-22/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-it-could-be-wo... > "I think we're going to have to start thinking because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views," Trump told the crowd at AmericaFest, an annual gathering organized by conservative group Turning Point. > > "They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, 'Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while'," he said.
• gman83 2y ago
  He received $100 million from Jeff Yass, the largest American investor in TIkTok. That did the trick.
  • spacechild1 2y ago
    Do you have a source for the $100 million? But yeah, Jeff Yass might indeed play a big role in Trumps sudden shift: https://www.fastcompany.com/91058467/who-is-jeff-yass-billionaire-donating-to-republicans-who-flipped-on-bytedance-tiktok-ban https://www.fastcompany.com/91058467/who-is-jeff-yass-billio...
    • ggddv 2y ago
      Why are you asking for citation? Shouldn’t the person making the claim provide the evidence, instantly remove account if named man said “I take bribes.” So I believe he took a bribe. Why would you believe otherwise?
    • tim333 2y ago
      I was googling for $100m and didn't find it but there was some interesting other stuff: >So far, Yass has contributed $46 million to conservative causes and PACs, but nothing to Trump directly. If Trump wins Yass over, it could open the floodgates to a torrent of cash. (Mar 24, Vanity Fair) >If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” Trump posted to Truth Social on March 7. It was a stunning policy reversal, in no small part because Trump had attempted an earlier TikTok ban himself. >Susquehanna’s roughly 15% stake in the privately held ByteDance is worth some $40 billion (also mar 24) So it seems quite plausible even if they haven't published details.
      • spacechild1 2y ago
        I'm curious how this all will play out now that Meta has sucked up to Trump.
        • 2y ago
• piva00 2y ago
  Only Trump can save TikTok from what Trump started[0]? It couldn't be because Jeffrey Yass has spent some dozens up to hundreds of millions US$ in GOP donations, could it? [1] It really feels like the USA is circling the drain faster and faster these days... [0] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/ https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/ex... [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/18/billionaire-jeff-yass-may-be-the-donor-behind-trumps-tiktok-flipflop-heres-what-to-know/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/18/billion...
• rvz 2y ago
  Biden had plenty of time in his presidency to intervene and stop the ban that Trump started. Instead he signed it into law without question.
• davb 2y ago
  I’ve seen other versions of this like https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/1i4nm32/rip_tiktok/ https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/1i4nm32/rip... - none of which mention Trump. I do wonder if this version (mentioning Trump) is real - the domain from the link is Foxnews…
  • ajdude 2y ago
    This is what it currently says for me on the homepage when I view it: Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned! In the meantime, you can still log in to download your data. It also says it (at the time of this writing) on: https://archive.ph/v0C6c https://archive.ph/v0C6c
  • nico 2y ago
    I was using the app throughout First, there was a generic message: > We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. > We're working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned. Exactly an hour later, it changed to: > A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. > We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
• scarab92 2y ago
  > If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing Most likely, the rationale will be similar to Huawei and Kaspersky. Not based on actual historical misbehaviour, but rather the amount of power you’re allowing their respective governments to have over US citizens / infrastructure. There are very few “from first principals” thinkers in the world, especially amongst TikTok’s younger audience. Most people take their beliefs from others, in the same way a llm’s output reflects its training data. If China controls the recommendation system that decides what content people consume, then they can influence the narrative of the country. China has long banned US social media for likely the same reason.
  • thiagoharry 2y ago
    Therefore, this power to influence younger generations should be restricted to US government and US big tech Corporation. They know what is best for them.
    • grajaganDev 2y ago
      Nothing in your comment changes this: "If China controls the recommendation system that decides what content people consume that, then they can influence the narrative of the country."
      • cluckindan 2y ago
        Anyone can influence those narratives. Owning the system just makes it more efficient than astroturfing, puppeteering and trolling.
        • grajaganDev 2y ago
          Agreed. But owning the platform makes influence far, far more efficient and that is why we should not allow our adversaries to do so.
      • thiagoharry 2y ago
        And China propaganda is so powerful that US propaganda cannot counter this, even within US borders, following rules chosen by their own country, US propaganda is losing. What makes Chinese propaganda so powerful, even in the form of silly 30 seconds dancing? Or perhaps the real problem is not this? But the existance of a single non western source of consent manufacturing?
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• rayiner 2y ago
  On foreign policy and intelligence issues, there are no “party lines.” There’s just the uni party. Same people who said Iraq had WMDs. Default reaction to anything they say should be to assume the opposite.
• jordanb 2y ago
  > classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines. Romney pretty much said it was Israel. They think that--but for tiktok--zoomers would be supporting the genocide in gaza. My guess is that Trump will negotiate with China that tiktok sticks to the party line on Israel and then it's allowed back in. Possibly it will come with some kind of verification system for someone in the US to pre-vet narratives going forward. Fortunately China already has sophisticated systems for this pre-vetting which they are currently using on their own population.
• TrackerFF 2y ago
  If it isn't clear to anyone yet: Trump is the kind of guy that likes to create a crisis, so that he can be the knight in shining armor that comes to save people from it. Whether it is a constructed one, or a real one, that's what he does.
• tlogan 2y ago
  I’m not sure if this message from the team is a smart move. ByteDance’s decision seems quite strange—it actually strengthens the arguments of those supporting the ban. Critics can now point to this and say, “Look, this proves our concerns.” While Trump has hinted at possible delay of ban, he has also made many statements that are unlikely to materialize. This is Trump for god sake - we all now what we are getting here. In my opinion, he won’t delay the ban immediately. He’ll likely wait a few days to gauge ByteDance’s reaction. If the owners aren’t overly concerned about losing access to the U.S. market—given its strategic value beyond just financial aspects—then the ban might not be postponed. Also, keep in mind that both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg wield significant influence over how this situation unfolds. Additionally, platforms like Truth Social play a role in the broader landscape. Moreover, there are classified briefings, intelligence reports, and strategic simulations—such as how TikTok’s algorithm could potentially be weaponized in the event of geopolitical conflict—that we simply don’t have access to.
  • Workaccount2 2y ago
    They set trump up to be a hero. The dude has wet dreams about being beloved dear leader. The question is if people are still going to use tiktok when Trump bites the CCP bait.
    • onemoresoop 2y ago
      Will he change the constitution to allow himself to candidate again in 2028?
      • yoyohello13 2y ago
        Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised if he did...
• Buttons840 2y ago
  Yeah. Those with security concerns about TikTok will be frustrated, because the app will continue to operate. Those with free speech concerns about the ban are also frustrated, because the law to ban TikTok was upheld (but might be ignored). To top it all off, we will see an especially blatant disregard for law enforcement from the executive branch. This seems to be the likely path, everyone loses and our system of government looks like a joke.
• rayiner 2y ago
  Walked downstairs this morning to my 12 year old girl complaining about the Tik Tok ban and noting that she saw that message. She’s now asking me what Trump can do to save it. It’s going to be hilarious when Trump reverses the ban.
• tlogan 2y ago
  Trump just posted this on Truth Social: I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order. Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations. I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions. Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose. —- Basically the same thing - I will extend (so I’m hero) but you need to sell.
• jmbwell 2y ago
  If only things like kids getting shot in their classrooms or people dying while insurance companies profited was as compelling as whatever was in that classified briefing
• ipython 2y ago
  And on cue - Trump has signaled his intention to stall the ban via executive order. The wording of that message is like kryptonite to that man. It’s simply begging for him to come out and say “see only I can fix it!” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/technology/trump-tiktok-ban-executive-order.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/technology/trump-tiktok-b...