It keeps going until we stop it folks. The adults are no longer in the room.
TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill
Submitted 6 months ago by vegeta@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
minorkeys@lemmy.world 6 months ago
blindbunny@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
I can’t wait to see zoomers burn down the Whitehouse
bier@feddit.nl 6 months ago
What? I’m not sure how it is in the US but in many countries zoomers (men) are very right wing. These are the guys that watch rogan and Andrew Tate.
viking@infosec.pub 6 months ago
Nice, another of those shit platforms nobody needs is dead.
Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill ^[1.1]^
The title feels misinformative to me given the following from the article:
[…] Trump insiders claim to be zeroing in on a deal that would sell 80% of TikTok’s U.S. assets to […] ^[1.2]^
To me, the title infers that TikTok is being sold with certainty, whereas the content of the article sates that a deal has yet to even be reached.
References
1. Type: Article. Title: “TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill”. Published: 2025-09-17T10:50. Accessed: 2025-09-21T01:29Z. URI: techdirt.com/…/tiktok-to-be-sold-to-trumps-right-…. 1. Type: Text. Location: Title. > TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill 2. Type: Text. Location: ¶2.
ipitco@lemmybefree.net 6 months ago
I don’t think sharing such biased media is useful
crapwittyname@feddit.uk 6 months ago
It’s pretty useful to own all the media though. Which the right wing do in fact own.
ipitco@lemmybefree.net 6 months ago
knowing trump is pissed off at many media, i’m not so sure about this
Anyways, any obviously biased media is close to useless to me
Mrkawfee@feddit.uk 6 months ago
Its already turning into Ziotok
HereIAm@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Is that z as in Zionism or gen-z or ruzzia? Or a little bit of all
end_stage_ligma@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Both. Both is bad.
NeilBru@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Yes.
ceiphas@feddit.org 6 months ago
“Converted into a Propaganda mill” my ass… What is it now if not a Propaganda mill
tempest@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
It’s currently a propaganda refinery.
beejboytyson@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Ya when I learned the Chinese have a different algorithm for NA I automatically didn’t trust it.
Corn@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
They had to get a different algo and server infra under Trump I and Biden because they were threatening it back then on grounds that they would spy on american’s data. They proceeded to start deranking anything political during the 2020 protests and hiring former spooks to moderate content, but that was never going to be enough.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Gen z and younger are consumers of tiktok
betanumerus@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
[deleted]jdf038@mander.xyz 6 months ago
All these kids and their tikkity toks and instant grams
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Trump insiders claim
Suuuuuuure. I’ll believe it when I…actually probably never.
doeinthewoods@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
rollingstone.com/…/lawmakers-tiktok-ban-pro-pales…
Always remember
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It is being sold to Larry Ellison, one of the biggest donors to Israel. So you bet TikTok is going to be filled with IDF thirst trap propaganda soon.
ubergeek@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Soon? Its been for a while now.
percent@infosec.pub 6 months ago
I remember when Rupert Murdoch’s company bought Myspace. Maybe US TikTok will see the same fate
ubergeek@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Tiktok’s popularity is already going downhill, so it checks out.
GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 6 months ago
Ok, but didn’t they buy Myspace when it was already getting less popular and a lot of people had switched to Facebook?
Hector@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It will lose its luster when there is a noticeable political slant.
jobbies@lemmy.zip 6 months 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.
Fizz@lemmy.nz 6 months ago
Nazi content is already insanely popular on tiktok. There is Minecraft edits with slogans like “take back the west” and a sonnenrad in the background getting millions of views. Nick Funetes an open Nazi does numbers.
The platform is a cesspit and can’t get any worse.
ThePrivacyPolicy@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
A lot more than America becomes fucked when tiktok becomes owned by these guys. It’ll become their global platform to radicalize youth Nazis from one corner of the globe to another. Time to hope the youth outside America are smart enough to see thorough this, but if our recent Canadian election was any indication then they are not.
jobbies@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
A lot more than America
I agree, but this is just tiktok in America. Everywhere else, users remain on the global version.
‘America is fucked’ because this comes alongside everything else - control of the media, control of all branches of government, building the paramilitary Gestapo (ICE) etc. The whole western world is at risk but America is further down the road.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Wdym by that last part?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
See ya all on RedNote, I guess.
yogurt@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
Duckxon@feddit.uk 6 months 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.
jcs@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
other_cat@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
Thanks for posting that. I was looking for confirmation or debunk and this adds some clarity.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 6 months 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 6 months ago
Well, we root for the more rational and predictable dictator.
LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 6 months 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 6 months 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.
Hector@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 6 months 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 6 months 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.
brown567@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Ooh! Who gets to be Goebbels?
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Not the guy with the hole in his neck.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Wait what if I got a time machine
ICastFist@programming.dev 6 months ago
Either Tucker Carlson or Alex Jones, whoever doesn’t get shot
commander@lemmy.world 6 months 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
Hector@lemmy.world 6 months ago
And the reason the Democrats and Republicans wanted to kill Tick Tock was Israel. Because we have an Israel first policy just because they have video footage of our lawmakers having sex with kids and their business Pals as well.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Don’t worry.
The Dems are just about to write a sternly-worded letter.
Tja@programming.dev 6 months ago
Voters made sure they can’t do anything else.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Dems made sure they can’t do anything else.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 6 months 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.
ICastFist@programming.dev 6 months ago
And they will even threaten to wag their fingers!
mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de 6 months ago
If we’re lucky they’ll do something that speaks to the youth, like doing Tiktok dances in protest
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 6 months ago
One can only hope, friend.
JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
*An official letter, signed by at least three colleagues.
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Gonna be sold to Oracle. Which means sold to the CIA.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months 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.
crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Converted, huh. It’s not already there?
Guidy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It was already a propaganda mill. Now it will be for the Nazis instead of China.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Now it will be for the US fascists instead of chinese fascists, Nazis were german.
Smith6612@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
Furbag@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
yucandu@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Let’s be real. They’re all working together.
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
Hector@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Of course it was about Israel
Fergie434@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Now it will be overt instead of a vague conspiracy.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
My guess is only ~15% of people using TikTok will quit, because of this.
Drugs are bad kids, m’kay?
Flisty@mstdn.social 6 months ago
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
I literally only ever had a twitter account… when Elon announced he was buying it, and I created that account soley in order to scream at him untill I was banned, probably by him.
All these short form, highly algorithmically manipulated communication platforms have given everyone brainrot, ruined their attention spans, made everyone angry stupid and tribal, and spread astounding amounts of mis and disinformation.
It was all downhill after Facebook introduced Farmville, and fully realized that every aspect of the human psyche can be gamified and manipulated.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 6 months 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.
Zephorah@discuss.online 6 months ago
Red Note. You can say what you like about the USA, but you can’t criticize China or show skin.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies
Zionist supremacist oligarchs who are heavily involved in election financing in cooperation with Israel Lobby that directly manages loyalty oaths to Israel from every Federally elected official. Zionists supremacists shifted heavily to Trump this cycle, with DNC funding paying them to lose for the most Zionist supremacist election outcome.
Media bending over backwards to not call it what it is, is clear and direct result of bipartisan submission to ZIonist supremacism.
Proof that this purchase is entirely to enforce Zionist supremacism, is that this group will overpay with licensing fees in order to add their layer of censorship on opposition to genocide, and humanizing people resisting genocide and supremacism. The buyers don’t care about making money from purchase, and will be proven by deal structure.
As backdrop on Larry Ellison, his wealth grew over $100B last week on the most fraudulent BS in the history of finance. …yahoo.com/…/why-openai-300-billion-deal-15081537…
Open AI, who loses money on $10B in annual revenue, has promised (non binding) Oracle $60B/year for GPU/datacenter services for next 5 years. Oracle has yet to even think about how it would fulfill this revenue, and Open AI has no way whatsoever of paying for it.
Should you short Oracle in the face of this? Of course not! Zionist supremacist oligarchs in the US are the chosen people.
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
Hector@lemmy.world 6 months 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.
Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
So it’ll be the same but maybe a little more america based?