-2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Anyone else not ever use TikTok whatsoever?
That’s not even the real problem. It’s a national security issue for how it’s being used to influence the population - hence why they want it to be “half American” now. Anyway, with the state of things, I’m not sure that makes it any better.
Comment by EvilScotsman999 at 20/01/2025 at 12:36 UTC*
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
it’s being used to influence the population
I’m not sure you have any cold hard evidence of this other than talking points you’ve heard parroted from others. Let’s be clear that the app has only been accused of having *the potential* to influence people.
The reason that users are rebelling is because a government they don’t really trust (the U.S government) which hasn’t really done anything substantial for them in their lifetime (meaning impactful legislation that they desire) is trying to assert control over where they choose to spend their time digitally. Just like with the media + elite’s narrative of Luigi, attempting to clamp down hard on the narrative that this was such a shocking thing that everyone should be concerned about instead ending up backfiring tremendously because it highlighted a massive disconnect and difference in experience between the classes. It was easy for people to see who comes from a different world than what most Americans experience when it comes to health insurance.
The U.S government is claiming TikTok is a national security risk and asking us to *trust* them on this without providing any real proof. (*insert Bush talking about WMDs as the reason to invade IRAQ*). On top of this, many young people disagree with the government’s foreign policy tactics, such as those regarding Israel and Palestine. When the government largely makes decisions that many people disagree with, those people won’t really have trust that the government is actually working for *their* best interests. What’s clear is that the U.S government is working for *its own* best interests, and this ordeal has highlighted a disconnect between that and the interests of the younger generation. Boomers still dealing with their own childhood trauma think (and try to assert that) we’re still in some kind of Cold War with China in 2025. Young people simply do not have the same nationalist capitalist anti-communist anti-socialist view that the older generations do and so the message falls flat, especially when the government hasn’t really done anything substantial and impactful for the younger generation to gain that trust in the first place.