The sequence of events as far as I can recall:

  • Trump promised to ban TikTok
  • TikTok was slated to be “banned” in the twilight of Biden’s term
  • Trump says he’d give it 90 days to make a decision
  • Biden decides not to ban it, handing it off to Trump
  • TikTok goes dark
  • It returns, but if you search for something anti-Trump in the United States, you can’t find it
  • Using a VPN will give you that content
  • Various news outlets are now calling it Trump’s “Propaganda Arm”

What the fuck is going on? From a political or technological standpoint.

  • Refurbished Refurbisher
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    113 months ago

    All corporate social media based in the US is going to turn out like this if it hasn’t already. Surprised Reddit and YouTube haven’t fallen yet.

  • @[email protected]
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    143 months ago

    It was always about control. They had no control over the information and now they do. All of a sudden it’s not a problem anymore.

  • @[email protected]
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    243 months ago

    Trump doesn’t want people to express freedom of speech as a Nazi he prefers people not know about certain things. The government wants only America propaganda. Therefore TikTok has to cater to Trump’s ego to stay in the US.

    I now call it trump tok because of you post anything that’s anti trump or his Nazi regime you will get banned.

    If you post anything about LGBT stuff or anything anti “America” you will get banned.

  • DigitalDilemma
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    3 months ago

    It’s clear Trump wants to control all social media within the US.

    1. Musk took twitter and turned it into a far right hate speech platform
    2. Zuckerberg has a private meeting with Trump. Next day donates $1m to the inaugural fund. Facebook, Instagram and Threads remove fact-checking in the US and Zuckerberg. There’s some very odd fuckery afoot with left searches that are blamed on a technical glitch.
    3. Tiktok is threatened with closure. They suddenly align themselves with Trump and the lights stay on.
    4. Google’s boss, Sundar Pichai, is lauded and given a seat of honour at Trump’s inauguration. It’s clear there are established links there.
    5. Reddit - I don’t know, but Steve Huffman has a /serious/ adoration of Elon Musk and is fond of money and power. If it’s not already in the fold, it will be soon.

    I’d put money on that we’re already seeing left and anti-trump messages suppressed, and algorithms adjusted to promote division and discord - not just in the US, but globally. We’ll be seeing platforms other than the above attacked and inflitrated constantly by bots and AI. We’ll reach a point where you literally will be talking to yourself if you are against this. Your messages will just disappear to the point where you question your own reality. Shadowbanned online. Is Lemmy safe? No, not remotely. Decentralisation helps somewhat, but when the heavy guns are laying down suppressing fire from bot armies and destablising agendas - or even just being ruled illegal for some made-up reason, decentralisation doesn’t allow you to fight.

    Jim Morrison said, "“Whoever controls the media controls the mind. The media is the message and the message is me.”

    The aim here is obvious, and it’s not new. The method is just adjusted for modern day. And truth? Say goodbye to that sucker.

        • @[email protected]
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          43 months ago

          Just because fans of CIA information think it means national security, actual term is preventing the homeland from being invaded. Internalizing hatred information to support war and destabilization of other countries is the CIA mind controlling you.

    • @[email protected]
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      53 months ago

      It’s clear Trump wants to control all social media within the US.

      And he didn’t even really have to do anything to do it. Capitalism just took its natural course and they all lined up to ride his Toad.

  • @[email protected]
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    113 months ago

    So tiktok is censoring criticism of Trump?

    I kinda wanna check that for myself, cuz I find it hard to believe

    • @[email protected]
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      103 months ago

      The claims I’ve seen are that search results are censored. Like if you search for specific phrases like “Trump fraud” you will get back videos in every country except the US (unless you use a VPN). I haven’t tested this yet, but I have seen videos on TT where liberals and leftists are complaining about it and about the all the Trump dickriding around the ban. The people in my feed are now very distrustful of the app and are looking for alternatives.

    • Colforge
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      63 months ago

      I’ve certainly had no dearth of anti-Trump content rolling through my feed. Sounds to me like people who don’t use TikTok are just making stuff up that fits their worldview.

      • @[email protected]
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        13 months ago

        …are just making stuff up that fits their worldview.

        Plenty of that on Lemmy and whole world

      • @[email protected]
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        43 months ago

        I don’t have TikTok, but if you do, isn’t this easily verifiable? Just go try searching one of the relevant terms.

        • Colforge
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          3 months ago

          I guess my previous comment was unclear. There is PLENTY of anti-trump content on my feed that is definitely not getting suppressed. I just searched “pro choice”, “vice president musk”, “antifa”, “black lives matter”, “trans rights”, “felon musk”, “trump sucks”, “trump felonies”, and “vote blue” and found plenty of results for all of them.

  • YEP [he/him]
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    153 months ago

    There are rumors of Chinese regulators going after bytedance over unfair business practices in china. I think there is something to the whole affair we are not really seeing.

  • Nightwatch Admin
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    3 months ago

    Uh the Supreme Court approved Biden’s ban that was initiated by Trump. Which is a nice way to make Biden less popular and come out as the saviour, plus TikTok will now lick Donnie’s boots. Someone was very smart, although I don’t think it was Trump himself.

    • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]
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      93 months ago

      I mean yknow, different kinds of intelligence. Guy’s dumb as a rock in most things, but clearly has a deep unconscious understanding of performance and manipulation

    • @[email protected]
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      43 months ago

      This is exactly the sort of deal making through bullying Trump is known for. He’s crazy, not stupid.

      • Nightwatch Admin
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        33 months ago

        If they let him speech unattended, it goes all gobbledegook in no time, so I suspect he really is not the brightest bulb in the package.

  • @[email protected]
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    3 months ago

    TikTok wasn’t ever actually banned.

    A ban was signed into law, but iirc it was tied to aid package for Ukraine. Biden supported it initially but either after public backlash or them actually realizing what a massive fumble it was, Biden’s administration said they would not enforce the ban and leave it to the Trump admins.

    TikTok voluntarily shut down their servers, and gave users a super dickridey message about how Trump was going to save the platform. Less than 24 hours later, severs came back up with another dickridey message about how Trump promised to save their platform.

    All of this happened before the inauguration.

  • Colforge
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    103 months ago

    Uhhh I’m using TikTok with no VPN in the US and still get plenty of anti-Trump, pro-LGBT, left-leaning content. 🤷

    TikTok definitely used the news hype to signal to Donald Trump that they will work with him — by giving him “credit” for making the app available again (even though he wasn’t president yet and didn’t do anything). It’s all propaganda from both the US and China.

    • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]
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      3 months ago

      It’s all propaganda from both the US and China

      Well, one large company based in China that saw a PR opportunity anyway, it’s not like TikTok is acting at the direction of the CPC lol

  • @[email protected]
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    353 months ago

    You got “foreign influenced” like US has done it for decades to other countries. US used to call it spreading democracy or some sort.

    Does that help?