Tuesday, February 11, 2025

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HomeViewpointsI WITNESS: TikTok......

I WITNESS: TikTok… TikTok… BOOM!

Even though I consider it a goofy, boring waste of time, it has been difficult for me to understand why the federal government has been in such a lather about TikTok.

Full disclosure: I do not use any social media. None. I know this marks me as a dinosaur, but there you have it. I shun virtual friends, having a strong preference for real ones. My actual friends have several ways to engage with me, and those ways—email, snail mail, telephone, or, optimally, in person—are more than enough for me.

I am clearly in the minority, because at least half of the people I know maintain a vigorous presence on social media: “tweeting”; “truthing”; “snapchatting”; posting photographs of every meal they have ever eaten, every trip they have ever taken, and every fleeting permutation of their child, their spouse, their cat, their dog, or their pet chicken. Why anyone would be interested in having a window into any of those parts of another person’s life is beyond me, but evidently it is a thing, and that thing has become a very big business. For instance, a recent valuation of the social media behemoth TikTok suggests it is worth between $100 billion and $200 billion.

My understanding, which is undoubtedly deficient, is that anyone with a camera on their cell phone or their computer can generate TikTok content, and as far as I know, content can be anything whatsoever. Knitting a sweater? Film it and post it! Brushing your teeth? Film it and post it! Committing a crime? Film it and post it! Have you developed an inexplicable rash on your thigh that bears a striking resemblance to the state of Florida? Turn on that camera pronto!

During the pandemic lockdown, TikTok emerged as a lifeline for individuals under the age of 40. Young people finding themselves with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and without gainful employment turned to TikTok as a means of entertaining themselves, their friends, and evidently millions of complete strangers. Some of those individuals parlayed their TikTok presence into significant sources of income and decided never to punch a clock again.

Why get up at a ridiculous hour every day, get dressed, and go to a job that pays you poorly and gratifies you not at all, when you can make money hanging out at home and filming yourself doing things that both amuse you and compensate you quite nicely?

So even though I consider it a goofy, boring waste of time, it has been difficult for me to understand why the federal government has been in such a lather about TikTok.

Given the current TikTok controversy, I did some research into how the platform is used, and it appears that most of the individuals who post content on TikTok are referred to as “influencers.” There are fashion and product influencers (sort of a modern twist on the Home Shopping Network), political influencers (who can maneuver quite comfortably on a platform that fact checks absolutely nothing), humor influencers, food influencers, and who-knows-what other sorts of influencers.

From what I have gathered, most content on TikTok is not particularly harmful or insidious, but the federal government is quite concerned about the platform’s interface with the government of China. This is where things get pretty murky.

TikTok is apparently owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and our federal government is concerned about the massive level of data mining to which users may be unwittingly subjected, the amount of Chinese political influence injected into the platform, and the potential to pump malicious software into the national security cyber system. The use of AI to twist the truth is also of high concern. The fact that American companies routinely invade your privacy without your express consent, use their platforms to exert political influence, and also use AI to twist the truth seems not to generate the same sense of panic and urgency in Washington, D.C.

I have yet to understand why it seems to be perfectly acceptable for Vladimir Putin to turn American media systems, including FOX news, into vehicles for Russian disinformation, but it is not acceptable for the Chinese to manipulate information on their own platform. Putin is certainly no less malign and no less capable of harming American democracy than is Xi Jinping; in fact, he does it all the time, especially when the request comes from Donald Trump.

So whatever national security concerns our federal government might have about TikTok, as long as Vladimir Putin and who knows how many other agents of fascism have open access to our media—to say nothing of being able to purchase access to the White House through flattery and bribery—we will not have a secure nation. And if the plug is pulled on TikTok, which appears to be imminent, all those amusing kids with cameras will have to get up, get dressed, and find work.

Nevertheless, it appears that the United States government is going to require ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, to sell TikTok to an American-based company. If it remains in the hands of the Chinese, it will disappear from the American social media landscape.

But wait—it now seems that Mr. Trump has decided that the current CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, should be seated with those other titans of the American oligarchy, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, at Trump’s inauguration. Since Donald Trump never does anything for anyone unless he can monetize the relationship for his own political or financial benefit, there appears to be something fishy in Trumpville.

Elon Musk has mused about purchasing TikTok but does not appear to have actually made an offer. Could Trump be trying to broker a deal for Musk or Zuckerberg or Bezos? The inauguration appears to be a major networking opportunity for the obscenely wealthy team of frat boys who are hell-bent on owning everything.

As we stand at the threshold of another Trump presidency, it really is important to understand that none of these people are interested in investing in America; they are interested in investing in Donald Trump—just as he is interested in doling out favors to them—as a vehicle for amassing even more personal wealth.

So many billionaires, so little time. Trump has already begun to build his coalition of amoral, self-serving vultures who are, at least for the moment, his wingmen.

Trump will be inaugurated, for the second time, on Monday. The amnesiacs who reelected him are about to get a refresher course on exactly how little he cares about them, their lives, and their struggles.

I have managed to gain five pounds since the election.

Time to get back to work.

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