Welp TikTok is not accessible.

[live love laugh]

Wow

A big loss of a community.

[Sneederbunk]

1. National security be damned. We're talking money here.

[TheBlackAdder]

12. Republicans working in collusion with the Chinese government, bending the knee to Xi.

[Ocelot II]

2. Alas, millions of teenagers won't be have a place to post their selfie videos.

What a catastrophe.

[live love laugh]

7. Have you been on TikTok? I didn't see teens and selfies there. I saw amazing contributors like Joy Reid,

Don Lemons and countless passionate and informative Democrats. I guess that’s what the algorithm fed me because I ignored the dancing and some of the other things. But I also saw educational things like cooking and recipes I saw DIY Home Improvement things…

So are you thinking that all social media is alike because it isn’t.

[LeftInTX]

11. It's mostly young people.

I followed this local triple homicide case on Facebook. Savannah was on Tik Tok. All the tweens on FB and Tik Tok were enamoured with her They kept sharing all sorts of fake psychic Tik Tok videos on FB.

[live love laugh]

16. And there's a lot more content than that--with young people who are politically savvy.

The more an individual looks at and likes certain content the more of it they see. So it is a different experience for each individual.

[vanessa_ca]

48. I remember Savannah's case. It was so heartbreaking, eom

[LeftInTX]

50. There were a lot of fake psychics on Tik Tok

Many of them were teens. Most of the psychics/supposed sleuths etc were young too.

Lots of rumor mongers too. This was case very local. Too local...

[vanessa_ca]

52. I wasn't on TikTok back then, but I did see those on Facebook and Youtube

Mostly on Youtube I think. They were ridiculous and annoying. I just wanted updates about the case hoping the murderers would be found. You're right about too many rumor mongers.

[JoseBalow]

23. My FYP is on point, just as I like it!

I see the right mix of everything I'm interested in seeing.

[Nixie]

43. Mine, too! I have managed to curate it to where I see the

perfect mix of interests. I’ve learned a lot from that app. It’s nice to see how people do things. It’s very fun. I just tap “not interested” when appropriate and that seems to take care of things.

There’s lots of posts on the ban now, and people are not fooled. I scan a lot of comments and they are mostly suspicious of Zuckerberg wanting the traffic to Meta or X. They hate Zuckerberg and Elon.

[JoseBalow]

44. It's obvious that the loudest voices against TikTok

have never used it and/or learned how it actually works. People think that it's only kids dancing, or some kind of unregulated free-for-all where anything goes, when in reality it has strict rules regarding hate speech, violence, sexual content, bullying, etc. More than any other social platform, including DU.

There's a ton of great content, something for everyone. But people want to believe what they want to believe. I have given up trying to explain.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

29. Same here

Ignored the bullshit and the bullshit went away off my feed. I posted many leftward political commentators and satire on my page. Plus I posted a lot of great cat videos too.

[Renew Deal]

13. They have places.

One owned by Google and another by Zuckerberg.

[writerJT]

15. What an ignorant reply.

There are millions of people who make a living on TikTok, promoting their businesses, conducting all of their business there, making money from affiliate links for their followers who follow them because they are providing interesting content.

But please, yeah, go ahead and keep pretending that you care one bit for the little guy and gal. 🙄

[CentralMass]

3. Lord Elmo should be buying it any minute now.

[vercetti2021]

4. Don't care

TikTok is a brain rot app. Z is completely fucked because of it. Now they are compromised by China by going to Rednote. Not the brightest generation it seems like.

[newdeal2]

8. It's a bit concerning what they value

I don’t feel very optimistic about this country’s direction.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

30. Vercetti

I loved tik tok. I learned so much on that app. It enriched my life. It had many kinds of videos. There were trans posters talking politics updating protests for trans rights There were awesome drag queens giving performances and make up tips. Don’t let the stupid parts blind you to the good stuff that was there.

Hell, an Egyptian creator on tik tok taught me how to make genuine delicious kickass Egyptian food too.

[Dem4life1234]

36. This!

Imagine in the 1960s, how do many young people were politically savvy and so brave. Sitting at lunch counters, registering disenfranchised people to vote, making things happen.

This generation is so messed up. And this is coming from a non Boomer.

[David__77]

37. That 60s generation voted for Reagan and Trump.

Multiple things can be true. The activists who became emblematic of those coming of age in the late 60s were a minority even if they expressed the aspirations of many.

[Silent Type]

5. What's worse, I read that the TT screen says something like, "but fortunately trump will intervene."

Gonna be like this for 4 friggin years.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-voluntarily-shuts-down-in-u-s-divest-or-ban-law-set-to-take-effect/

[LeftInTX]

9. It says:

Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now
A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now.

We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can still log in to download your data.

[Silent Type]

10. Thanks. Was trying to find exact quote.

[RockRaven]

6. But how will I poison my brain as quickly and thoroughly as possible?

[Renew Deal]

14. The old fashioned way

Acid

[Mariana]

21. Don't fret, there's plenty of brain rotting material on cable TV.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. At least I can follow Merv the cat on Instagram and this red whatever thing. nt

[usonian]

18. Joe is not enforcing the ban, and is passing the buck (THE BUCKS) to the extortionist

CA flags are going to fly at full staff Monday thanks to extortion.

That said, the law allows for a delay (a.k.a. bidding war)

So, it’s a ploy. There is no reason to shut down other than some kind of guarantee (not stated that I can find) or just to make Joe look bad, when he did nothing but sign an appropriations bill that had the ban as a rider.

Nothing about this is good.

[live love laugh]

19. I keep thinking about that meeting with Trump and TT CEO.

He probably got him to agree to the statement that mentions Trump. We know he loves having his name mentioned (remember the stimulus?). So I agree with you.

[usonian]

20. Like the mideast cease fire. UPDATE

Last edited Sun Jan 19, 2025, 02:11 PM - Edit history (1)

I was wrong. Dump did not buy a one day delay.

A MIRACLE!

Joe, congratulations on extremely hard work.

Pervioud comment on the Merde Mandarin stand.
That rat bastard is pure poison.

[David__77]

38. Why would it make Biden look bad for the ban he signed to come to fruition?

I think supporters of this law might celebrate that people cannot access TikTok.

[usonian]

41. See the enormously popular thread on kids blaming Biden for the bill, which had strong bipartisan support.

It’s THEIR ox that got gored.

Now as for foreign malicious ownership, think Rupert Murdoch, who has destroyed political discourse with 24 by 7 by 365 lies and hate speech.

BUT NOOOOOH, he gets a pass.

“Social media” sites sell all your data to UNKNOWN and undisclosed buyers, INCLUDING the U.S. government and local police, insurance agencies. I wrote up Allstate. Admittedly an app, but so are FB and Twitler, etc.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219903183

But it SUPPOSEDLY stays in the US, where it can “do no harm”

The Chinese internet army has infiltrated the entire US infrastructure using a hack on the very wiretap backdoor that the government demanded.
Joe filed a flurry of last minute orders to combat this, but it is apparently up to the Orange Mandarin to attack his good buddy China. Love/hate relationship.

BIG EFFING DEAL!!
Split up the world three ways.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219918639

[BannonsLiver]

22. I was able to access it on a desktop with my VPN set to Albania.

I doubt most users will go to that trouble. I did it to see if it would work. It didn’t work with the VPN set to the UK.

[Dave Bowman]

27. Try the VPN set to Canada, it works for me.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

31. What vpn should I use

Where do I download it? I want Tik-Tok back.

[Dave Bowman]

35. Thunder VPN is free and has no data limit.

It's available for Android and iPhone.

[SoFlaBro]

24. Fucking MAGA is losing their shit over the fucking thing. Lil Jr Fuckpants out front with the fuck shit and booger sugar

[live love laugh]

25. Huh?

[JI7]

26. I read some comments saying they will pull off Trump's wig in public

if he doesn't end the ban. I actually don't see many blaming Biden though.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

28. Sad I already miss tiktok

And the people and content creators.
I learned so much on that app. Talked to people all over the world. It was a beautiful community.

[allegorical oracle]

32. The fetid felon is saddling up his white steed -- ready to ride to the rescue. nt

[Cobalt Violet]

33. Meta was expecting to cash in but that's not happening.

It was their doing after all. https://archive.ph/qcoo9.

TikTokers are joining RedNote instead.

People would rather learn and communicate in Mandarin than be forced to use Meta products and support the American Tech Oligarchy.

Too many who don't use Tiktok buy into Target Victory's talking points hook, line and sinker.

[vanessa_ca]

51. I remember that. He spent almost $8 million lobbying against them

What was particularly revolting was when he started screaming about them in 2019 when he couldn't buy Musical.ly

Mark Zuckerberg says TikTok is a threat to democracy, but didn't say he spent 6 months trying to buy its predecessor
Isobel Asher Hamilton
Nov 13, 2019, 5:14 AM CST

-snip-

Three sources familiar with the talks told BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac that Facebook spent the second half of 2016 trying to buy the Shanghai-headquartered Musical.ly in an attempt to break into the Chinese market. These sources said the talks were "serious" but never came to fruition, with Facebook unable to close the deal.

-snip-

During a public speech at Georgetown University in October, Zuckerberg said: "While our services like WhatsApp are used by protesters and activists everywhere due to strong encryption and privacy protections, on TikTok, the China-based app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these same protests are censored, even here in the US."

He added: "Is that the internet we want?"

Sources told BuzzFeed that Zuckerberg's attacks on TikTok were cynically motivated.

"Facebook is so pissed that TikTok is the one thing they can't beat that they've turned to geopolitical arguments and lawmakers in Washington to fight their fight," a former high-ranking Facebook employee told BuzzFeed.

-snip-
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-missed-out-on-buying-up-half-of-tiktok-and-now-it-says-its-a-threat-to-democracy-2019-11

[Thrill]

34. Embarrassing how bad this party is at the Politics

Just handing Trump and Republicans a huge win with young people. He gets to come in and save the app. When Biden could have easily done it. Just mind boggling. It’s hard to be encouraged with the Party right now. Just baffling

[themaguffin]

39. Womp womp

[iemanja]

40. Whenever I opened it

all I got was insufferable noise and people jumping around. I've been told they target you by interests, but they failed big time with me.

[live love laugh]

42. The algorithm has to "learn" your preferences.

You will see more of things that you “like” or share or even just watch and pay attention to. You see less of the stuff you ignore by scrolling past it. You can bypass the randomness by searching for the type content you want to see, like DIY or Biden or Democrats ….

My sister is always asking me if I saw something that she saw and usually I don’t. We don’t see the same content because our interests differ. The same with kids—they see totally different content.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

46. Do you share a computer?

From day 1, it had me pegged as a teacher (including that I wanted the sarcastic teacher stuff), a D&D player, a far-left liberal, and someone with a dark humor. I started with no people jumping around. It grabs your information from the device you are using.

[iemanja]

47. No, no one but me uses my computer.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

45. So we're not at all worried about the free speech and oligarchy implications?

China doesn't have access to the data collected. That has been made clear. Meta, Amazon, X, Insta, Apple, and others mine MORE data than TT does and they sell it to whom-the-fuck-ever including foreign countries. But we aren't worried about them for some reason which should be clear to anyone following along and looking at the money and where it goes.

This isn't about national security. This is about making sure that the money goes to the right pockets.

And, just so it's out there, if you go on Tik Tok and just see teenagers dancing, that's on you. I go there a lot and I have ZERO videos of teenagers dancing. I do have a lot of teacher stuff, very progressive political stuff, D&D stuff, musicians in the style I like, and generally stuff in my dark humor wheelhouse. You build your algorithm before you go went there and it gives you want you want. If it's teenagers dancing, then that's something you search for elsewhere.

[LeftInTX]

49. Trump is crediting it with him winning the election. Good enough for me to want to get rid of it.

Trump credits TikTok, advice from Barron for helping him with young voters
President-elect Trump discusses the future of TikTok and credits advice from son Barron for helping him with young voters during election.

Sorry about the right wing source, but it's his words.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6366072944112

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tiktok-divestment-could-deal-century-trump-house-china-committee-chair-says

[Cobalt Violet]

53. Punishing 7 million American businesses is OK?

No way. And btw Trump's lies, who cares what he says and thinks.

[LeftInTX]

54. So is Tik Tok lying?