Tiktok is back but American free speech is winding down
Political censorship in the US slows the clock app
It should concern us that the US government banned TikTok before firearms.
“I can tell you the information presented to all of us voting on this thing was not very compelling,” explained AOC before the app was banned. “ In fact, high ranking officials on the House foreign affairs committee came to me after the briefing, and they were shocked and pretty surprised at the lack of substantive information in the briefing. They were genuinely expecting there to be some real or compelling intelligence shared that would substantiate the argument. There just wasn’t, and they were surprised at the lack of [evidence].”
(video by AOC)
Rand Paul joined TikTok the day of the ban as an act of protest. “I do believe that banning a social media app like TikTok is a violation of the first amendment. I haven’t had a chance to read the ruling yet, but [I am] very disappointed.”
(video by CSPAN)
The United States is entering a dangerous time with the TikTok ban. Regardless of whether or not you have an account, this swift pipeline to a ban will impact American free speech.
Briefly, some context: the TikTok ban was couched in a must-pass humanitarian aid package destined for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, according to abc news. It was passed unanimously due to the nature of the larger bill. Once approved through this aid package, Mark Zuckerberg lobbied $7 million to multiple Congress members to vote yes on the ban. TikTok is the singular Meta competitor and the last US social media app broadly for free speech, emerging as one of the world’s most powerful algorithms. After a failed attempt to expand Facebook to China (Zuckerberg going so far as to learn Mandarin), he testified that TikTok posed a “national security threat” through data breaching, the same accusations for which Meta was deposed before the Senate in 2019, 2021, and this past year. The main office has been in Santa Monica, CA since its conception. Over half of the venture capital investments are held by international entities. Despite these stats, an ultimatum was presented to TikTok CEO Shou Chew: shut down servers or sell the company to a US entity. Multiple Congress members that loudly voted in favor of the ban were recorded buying up Meta stock or have previously purchased stock. Once the ban migrated to the Supreme Court, the ban was upheld in a tight split between justices.
The language of the ban is also ambiguous, meaning the government could choose to ban other apps at will.
TikTok is — or was, now depending on your app’s country of origin — one of the remaining digital places to hear news directly from the source. One still has direct access to politicians, celebrities, and artists. Historical events are still witnessed and corroborated in real time, similar to the pre-Musk purchase of Twitter, now X. Is the app perfect? Absolutely not, as it’s still home to a bevy of alt-right creators and supporters. But perfection should not undermine the sizable contribution to the economy, job creation, and the collection of knowledge shared. People afflicted by chronic illnesses found diagnoses for their conditions, users healed their traumas in community pods. People broadened their appreciation of the human experience, invited into foreign homes and special ceremonies around the world. These metrics escape the GDP measure but are no less valuable.
TikTok is potent enough to spook the mainstream media, who begrudgingly rely on the platform for current news. Channels regularly broadcast viral posts to inform their reporting. Major outlets have therefore not been generous in their ban coverage, writing it off as kids revolting and being brainwashed. The user base for TikTok requires 18 years, though at least 1.3 million adult Americans on the app are running full businesses, making living wages from their accounts, with a rough 7 million users monetizing their posts.
(video by Jax)
While the ban held for a scant twelve hours, a sharp divide has opened between American TikTok and the rest of the English speaking world. Progressive creators have been banned, people in the US are struggling to search politically specific content, like Donald Trump’s pregame inauguration party. Questions are raised about server transfers to Meta, new verified Instagram and Facebook accounts popping up overnight as well as new prompts to “sign into Facebook to access TikTok.” As an American abroad, I still maintain consistent access to these topics.
If algorithms must be tweaked to achieve hate speech prevalence, this means such extremism is a minority opinion. This is the true affirmative action which benefits mediocre voices to maintain control and volume in globalized spaces.
If tech autocrats must accuse others of their own deficiencies to overtake them in the market, theirs is an inferior product.
If there was a true threat to the US, the US government could move rapidly to disarm it.
It should concern us that the only industry brave enough to scoop this story is Big Ice Cream.
As tech giants like Apple and Google preemptively bowed to the Trump administration, an opposition appeared in an unlikely form: Ben & Jerry’s. The US ice cream staple that has managed in spite of its global growth to consistently land on the right side of history. Between the sneak peek posts of family sized cartons, Ben & Jerry’s helped organize the People’s March, citing on their website “Donald Trump will be the next president, and the stakes are higher than ever. We will protect our democracy.” According to AP Press, 350 marches occurred Saturday, January 18th across the US, the largest in Washington DC with approximately 50,000 participants. While other corporations are joking across platforms to maintain visibility, Ben & Jerry’s is actively organizing against US censorship.
This isn’t the first time Ben & Jerry’s flexed against the powers that be; the company sued its parent company Unilever for altering pro-Palestine social posts. They even refused to maintain scoop shops in occupied territory, causing Unilever to sell their interests in Israel; Ben & Jerry’s countersued to stop the sale, ending in a settlement. While darkly comedic that a former hippy ice cream brand was the only brave entity to answer democracy’s call to arms (“Is this your Dairy King?!”), it demonstrates a hopeful thought: courage can come from anyone, anywhere. The incumbent office shrugged and asked what could be done, but numerous Congress people fought and petitioned for our rights across party lines.
If we are to overcome these massive obstacles, we must look for support beyond our standard communities. Safety is still found in diverse perspectives and skills, and there are alliances available from every walk of life. To survive what follows, help must come from everywhere. We must look in the most unlikely places, including within ourselves. Our response is always our responsibility. Even the smallest acts of dissent are opportunities to strengthen our courage.
I cannot assure you that America is still The Land of the Free, but it is always within our power to be brave.