Is it not already a propaganda mill by convention? I assumed that was part of the deal to continue operating.
TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill
Submitted 5 weeks ago by vegeta@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
henfredemars@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
ook@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Yeah but… not the right propaganda!
HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
right propaganda
Well…
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Before it was a vague sinophobic conspiracy theory pushed by big tech and other fascists… now it’s a reality.
yucandu@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The only time I ever hear the term “sinophobic”, it’s someone using it to hand-wave away criticisms of the Chinese government.
Sort of like “anti-semitic” and criticisms of Israel.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
It wasn’t always purely right wing propaganda, they want it full right wint propaganda,
Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Yeah I thought this deal happened months ago. I guess now they’re being public about it.
418_im_a_teapot@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
I’m pretty active on there and my entire feed is academic and thoughtful left-leaning commentary. Granted I had to work at curating it. Day one was all thirst traps. But now I really enjoy it. I will actually be sad when it becomes unusable.
ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Young people decide what’s popular, if you fuck it up they will bail for another platform. Hopefully someone spins up a competitor quickly to grab the people in between the forced “new app”
akilou@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Dude Facebook hasn’t been cool in a decade and it’s still very much a thing
Zephorah@discuss.online 5 weeks ago
It’s alive due to Messenger and Marketplace.
thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
wait until the boomer generation stops using it…
Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
I just had this funny thought— so boomers adopted and settled into Facebook after millennials made it popular. And then everyone except for boomers stopped actively using it. It’s kind of their “retirement social media platform.”
Now you have TikTok, which the millennials flocked to after GenZ popularized it. Does this mean after Gen Z flees the platform that it’s just going to be the Facebook equivalent for millennials?HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’d be genuinely curious what the real age demographic of regular Facebook users is in America, but I highly doubt Meta would ever release those figures.
Doubt they can even sort out who is and isn’t a not, themselves
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
You’re underestimating the propaganda machine . All those right-wing influencers didn’t get to the top of every chart because young people decided them to be popular.
HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Susan Wojiciki genuinely spearheaded the rise of the far right on social media by giving endless support and exposure to the likes of the Paul brothers, Mr.Beast, and right wing commentators who regularly broke ToS but rarely if ever got banned or demonitized for it.
She truly was the Ronald Reagan of social media personalities. May she burn in Hell.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
spongebue@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
You have to use words like “unalive” and it’s still popular?
_spiffy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Wouldn’t it be cool if people used loops instead!
kibiz0r@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
if you fuck it up they will bail for another platform
They might also start using another platform. But they’re unlikely to leave completely.
Cory Doctorow put out the first hour of the audiobook on Enshittification for free, and it covers this very well.
fluxion@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
True for us 1%ers, nobody else seems to give a fuck.
tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
“you sweet, summer child”
Guidy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It was already a propaganda mill. Now it will be for the Nazis instead of China.
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Oh it’s been working for GovCo and Israel since it came back from the 1 day ban and Shou started licking Chumps ass. The change was immediate and noticeable.
Fergie434@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yup every top comment on TikTok now is almost always the most divisive shit. I assume they’re doing the equivalent of reddits “sort by controversial”. It changed as soon as it came back.
Hector@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Of course it was about Israel
Smith6612@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It will actually be for both! Emphasis on the part of the article where it says China will still have a stake of 20% in the company, AND they get to keep the algorithm.
All the US is doing is buying up physical assets and infrastructure, and the user base. The juicy bits they wanted, they didn’t get. Everyone is likely going to jump off of TikTok the moment it comes time to segment the US market from the Rest of the World. China doesn’t have to do a thing because Douyin is already maintained separately for the Chinese market.
Furbag@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The thing that will kill this is forcing users to migrate to a new app. Removing the largest friction barrier that prevents people from leaving your app by forcing them to cross it is a great way to scatter the TikTok userbase to the four winds.
I hope this kills TikTok, and that the people who enjoyed using it remember who was responsible for it.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
China doesn’t have to do a thing because Douyin is already maintained separately for the Chinese market.
Nobody really wanted to grapple with the reality. They just saw “Chinese investors mean Communist propaganda means Americans most be protected from the thing”. Then Cold War brainrot kicked in and that was that.
A country that fumbles this hard doesn’t deserve to exist.
yucandu@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Let’s be real. They’re all working together.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Now it will be overt instead of a vague conspiracy.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Now it will be for the US fascists instead of chinese fascists, Nazis were german.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Don’t worry.
The Dems are just about to write a sternly-worded letter.
JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
*An official letter, signed by at least three colleagues.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Schmuck Schumer is hard at work, editing his last one, so we don’t think it’s the same one.
Jokes on him, nobody is paying any attention to him anyway. He could give the same speech every time, and nobody would even notice.
What a loser. If we aren’t going to kick him out, just ignore him, and let him get back to his insider trading. That’s his only priority anyway. He might as well be a MAGA.
Tja@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
Voters made sure they can’t do anything else.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Dems made sure they can’t do anything else.
ICastFist@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
And they will even threaten to wag their fingers!
mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
If we’re lucky they’ll do something that speaks to the youth, like doing Tiktok dances in protest
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
One can only hope, friend.
yogurt@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
US media fell for it again award. This is how Trump always negotiates he announces a “deal” that’s actually just his initial offer and then calls up whoever it is and begs them to play along and not embarrass him because he already announced it, which works on NYC construction contractors but Xi doesn’t give a shit.
jcs@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Like the backpedaling of Trump’s T1 phone to initially be claimed as “Made in America” until being publicly called out, not only by inquisitive people but also by a company furthest along in producing a fully “Made in USA” phone. The T1 phone marketing has been relegated to featuring a “proudly American” design.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Kind of sad that you have to root for a fascist dictator prick to keep the fascist wannabe dictator prick in check.
Tja@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
Well, we root for the more rational and predictable dictator.
Duckxon@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
Asked about final control of the app’s algorithm — a central question in the legality of any deal — he said that was “being worked out” and that American investors are “going to have control over it.
I wonder if they’ll actually sell the code source… that would be surprising. The best they’ll get may be just a compiled version they can’t do anything with.
other_cat@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Thanks for posting that. I was looking for confirmation or debunk and this adds some clarity.
LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
This is your reminder that tiktok has always been brain rot and you need to delete your account and app.
The fact it was bought by Nazi’s to spread their propaganda is just one more reason for people to delete the app and give them the least amount of views possible.
I would love to start a petition to ban tiktok in states once they turn it into GestapoTok. I mean the right is all about states rights right?
mlg@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yeah but uncensored brainrot is still better than propaganda brainrot.
One of the reasons tiktok became so popular is that it didn’t go around banning entire swaths of content under the guise of “healthy content” like Facebook (Insta), X, and Reddit do.
This isn’t even a Trump issue specifically, Biden wanted TIkTok to do the same. Either follow policy demands or sell to an American owner.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
In what fantasyland is Tiktok uncensored? Tiktok is the whole reason we get screenshots where words like sex, kill, dead, gun, assault, rape, and every swear word imaginable are censored. Tiktok is the reason for euphemisms like “seggs” (sex) and “grape” (rape). There was a time when food content struggled on Tiktok because you’d get shadow banned for having a knife in your video.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It’s always been propaganda brainrot. The CCP was just more subtle about it by suppressing content that was critical of them, suppressing content by “ugly” people, and quietly siphoning all of your data.
And no, that’s not en endorsement of any alternative. They’ll all bad. That just all have different bias.
Hector@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Half the reason it was banned was because they would not put the fix in against Israel criticism. For some reason the video footage of our lawmakers having sex with underage kids has led them to have an Israel first policy.
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
TikTok has been faithfully pushing US propaganda for years. Mintpress News put out an article on it. Control of the US servers was handed over to Oracle, who let the State Dept have full control of what to censor.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
If I was in the USA, I would be ready to run real quick. The crackdown on the left is just beginning, get ready for massive surveillance, fully controlled media, reeducation camps, etc. GAFAM are all bending to the dictator. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when and how.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
The crackdown on the left is just beginning
lol bruh they erased the left like 80 years ago.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
IDK, what’s happening now has nothing to do with the usual capitalist propaganda and brainwashing of the past decades. I agree most of the west hasn’t seen any real left govern states since the end of the 70s, but at then pace things are going and unless something huge happens, I guarantee you will soon look at the past years as some decent times
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
…More explicitly than after the first ban
commander@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Shout-out to every dumbass that thought just because that bill to give the president to unilaterally designate companies as foreign companies national security threats and ban them was being passed during a democratic party Presidency, that meant the ACLU and EFF were wrong and this was actually a good thing. The most popular easily abusable legislation of the past ten years.
Don’t support government powers that you wouldn’t want your opposition to possess. They will be in power someday, bet on that no matter what. Especially stupid stupid after 2020 Portland federal law enforcement disappearing people it should have been clear that the powers of the executive should have been limited before it was going to inevitably be in the power of opposition again but nope, Tiktok bad because China makes us feel insecure.
Stupid bill and stupid people that were, I know ACLU and EFF are against it but TikTok needs to be banned, dumbasses - a bill can be written that targets a single company rather than a blanket power to block out any company from that selection of countries. Of course now that it is law, a willing congress - an inevitability - can remove the country specifics or add any and for some reason dumbasses after 2020 were like - it won’t be abused
doeinthewoods@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
rollingstone.com/…/lawmakers-tiktok-ban-pro-pales…
Always remember
ceiphas@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
“Converted into a Propaganda mill” my ass… What is it now if not a Propaganda mill
jobbies@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
I would make a joke if this wasn’t deeply, deeply worrying.
This is how the Nazis solidify support in genZ and genAlpha.
America is fucked.
percent@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
I remember when Rupert Murdoch’s company bought Myspace. Maybe US TikTok will see the same fate
Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
Isn’t it already a propaganda mill?
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
When the state is worried about “foreign” surveillance, propaganda, etc., it’s really just worried that it’s not doing the surveillance, propaganda, etc.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Gen z and younger are consumers of tiktok
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Gonna be sold to Oracle. Which means sold to the CIA.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It keeps going until we stop it folks. The adults are no longer in the room.
brown567@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Ooh! Who gets to be Goebbels?
betanumerus@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
TikTok? I haven’t even seen a pendulum clock in decades.
Hector@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It will be a shadow of his former self being run by these hacks. There are two greedy and short-sighted to run a growing platform.
NotSteve_@piefed.ca 5 weeks ago
How does this work for countries outside of the US? Will Canadian and European TikTok get the propaganda too or will the US version be self contained?
blindbunny@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
I can’t wait to see zoomers burn down the Whitehouse
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
My guess is only ~15% of people using TikTok will quit, because of this.
Drugs are bad kids, m’kay?
Mrkawfee@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
Its already turning into Ziotok
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Trump insiders claim
Suuuuuuure. I’ll believe it when I…actually probably never.
Zephorah@discuss.online 5 weeks ago
Red Note. You can say what you like about the USA, but you can’t criticize China or show skin.
viking@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
Nice, another of those shit platforms nobody needs is dead.
MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
TikTok US to be rebranded as LikKok
billwashere@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Damn you … I shot coffee out my nose with that. 😂
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Burn baby burn!
FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Comes in flavours, likkok orange, and likkok red.