TDT: Tick-Tock For TikTok
Also: A bird-flu psyop, time to stop breathing, plus more!
The one argument to justify saving TikTok that I have never been able to entertain, however, is the ‘free speech’ mantra. While I AM a free-speech advocate, and it IS technically a private company, and it IS our own very-shady government shutting it down, which would SEEM to be a violation of the first amendment… I still cannot embrace it.
Why? Because I cannot recall a single time when TikTok has EVER honored the concept of ‘free speech,’ when it comes to how it has treated its own users. In fact, it has done the exact opposite.
Welcome to this edition of the Three-Dot Tablet [TDT], the bi-weekly news-and-opinion digest of The Stone Age.
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-- DST ending soon… maybe
-- Mangione veneration
-- HFCS (literally) under the microscope
-- Too many ‘breathers’
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Three-Dot Tablet | Vol. 03.03 | December 22, 2024
Prime Cut: Tick-Tock for TikTok
US Supreme Court to consider TikTok bid to halt ban
Reuters
Is the end nigh for the embattled video platform? They may have one ‘hail Mary’ left…
The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to hear a bid by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to block a law intended to force the sale of the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban on national security grounds.
Seeing that the current group of Supremes is more unpredictable than a bipolar pop-star off their meds, it is almost impossible to ascertain how they will rule on this. My gut tells me, however, that they are probably going to side with the government, because of ‘national security’ concerns… as fantom as those may be.
My view of TikTok is complicated, because my experiences with it are highly personal. With that noted, I understand how its banning could harm a large number of Americans. Many have built careers and businesses on the platform, ventures which will undoubtedly collapse without it. Intimate friendships have been fostered there as well, and removing it as a means of communication could be upsetting.
There is also the ‘validation’ angle. Those who have never been on TikTok may not understand this, but the algorithm once allowed an individual to find their proverbial ‘tribe’ pretty easily. I have met so many wonderful people on there who were aligned with my beliefs and values, and while I may not have the love for the platform I once did, I very much appreciate that aspect.
The one argument to justify saving TikTok that I have never been able to entertain, however, is the ‘free speech’ mantra. While I AM a free-speech advocate, and it IS technically a private company, and it IS our own very-shady government shutting it down, which would SEEM to be a violation of the first amendment… I still cannot embrace it.
Why? Because I cannot recall a single time when TikTok has EVER honored the concept of ‘free speech,’ when it comes to how it has treated its own users. In fact, it has done the exact opposite.
Indeed, it would impossible to enumerate the bans, shadow-bans, and outright cancellations that have occurred there. Oft arbitrary, with very little explanation, these have targeted creators whose opinions did not align with those who control the platform. I’ve known literally dozens of people who have lost (again, literally) dozens of accounts, so you will have to forgive me if my concern for TikTok’s ‘free speech’ claims bottoms out at zero.
There are also the very real arguments regarding how the platform has been used as a tool of corruption and manipulation, especially amongst our children. The fact that the algorithm in China promotes videos encouraging STEM paths, while our children get fed non-stop debauchery?
That is not accidental, folks.
Speaking of, let us dispense with the whole ‘private company’ nonsense. TikTok is still very much influenced by the CCP, and while there may no longer be direct connections, stop pretending they are not doing China’s bidding. They are.
[There is strong evidence there were shadow-banning techniques being deployed during our recent presidential election as well, actions which could be defined as actual - legitimate - ‘election interference’… but that is fodder for a future article.]
So while many may have the sincere desire to save TikTok’s access to American markets based on principle, along with a variety of other reasons, at some point I think we have to ask ourselves if it even deserves to be saved. After all, Natural Law is absolute in these matters, so whether one calls it Tri-Con, or Karma, or “reaping what you sow”… maybe TikTok is only receiving that which it has sent out.
Sent out time, and time, and time… again. One user-ban after another…
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Notes…
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