Was the whole TikTok drama a bait-and-switch to make Trump look good?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-save-tiktok-working-again-app-download-b2682563.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world517
Comments116https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-save-tiktok-working-again-app-download-b2682563.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
I feel like this is an incredibly obvious yes. They were down for 12 hours. They put Trump's name as their savior in the error message... Then the CEO shows up to his inauguration. Trump freely admits that it is because he believes TikTok helped him win the election:
So. Yeah. Of fucking course it was. Fuck national security and all that nonsense, ME ME ME!
I was thinking the same, I'm 99% certain Trump required his name to be included in the welcome back message as a condition for not implementing the ban.
It's very poorly written theatre
The audience who enjoys this theater isn’t exactly sophisticated. Pro wrestling has more complex plot and believable characters.
And a bribe
Also they’re now censoring anything anti Trump.
Do you have a source for that? I’ve heard about this, too, but the evidence was dubious at best
https://www.newsweek.com/tiktok-blocking-anti-trump-content-what-we-know-2018190
"These reports have not been confirmed at this time," the article notes.
https://www.tiktok.com/@morgon.forthepeople/video/7462086721652428078
Looks like they may be coming from inside the house.
I can't see this. Would you care to explain?
Some Tik Tok creators are complaining on the platform that they are being censored, specifically in regards to talking poorly about the Trump administration.
As much as some people harp on Tik Tok being a bastion of non-censorship, it has been proven repeatedly that this is not actually true. They just pick and choose carefully what to censor and when. Most platforms do that. It's not surprising. It also wouldn't be surprising for them to not promote or prioritize content with their algorithm that could be seen by the current POTUS as inflammatory because they are attempting to gain favor with him at the moment in exchange for potential political favors in regards to the platform in the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-how-tiktok-censors-videos-that-do-not-please-beijing
And didn't they explicitly state that they went down because "the US government is not working on a solution", 12h before this government changed?
Yes. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyeer3qp12o
No, as I said the error message explicitly mentioned him by name
It did not make him look good to anyone with more than half of a brain.
Fortunately no one with half a brain voted for him anyway
Truly all the more scary
I will argue that so was the Israel cease-fire "strong-man" act. In fact my conspiracy theory is that Israel explicitly delayed the cease-fire so that Trump could look strong by finishing it, then whined a bit in the newspapers to sell it. This is not even the first time they GOP has done this, as per the Iran hostages affair.
Sounds like the Iran hostage crisis remake.
Which was itself a sequel to Nixon trying to stall peace negotiations during the Vietnam War.
How can they get away with the exact same plan every time, this is some scoobydoo bullshit.
Yeah and it's not far-fetched considering how openly Netanyahu endorsed Trump. With Trump in office Netanyahu can do whatever he wants, waging a costly in terms of PR war will be no longer necessary.
Judy Woodruff was forced to publicly apologize because Trump and Bibi said they didn't talk about delaying it, but I still think she was right:
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-accused-crime-benjamin-netanyahu-call-ceasefire-hamas-1942248
I mean, I'd trust unnamed sources over these two guys any day.
Oh well, if the two known liars said so...
I believe it was because under Trump Israel would get better terms as Miriam Adelson paid for that.
The only thing that can make Trump look good is his obituary
Lmao, yes.
He "brought it back" before he was even in office. And since no one looks up anything, I'm sure it did it's job.
How do people not see through this theatre? It wasn’t even subtle. Oh right, the brainrot…
The original idea came from him. To me it just makes trump a hypocrite
How so? It was politically convenient to go after TikTok when he did it, and it's politically convenient to reverse course now. That's a pretty consistent gameplan from Trump, attack something when it's popular, reverse when reversing is popular.
But Trump has no values or beliefs, the only thing he's consistent about it putting his name in headlines. So reversing is absolutely consistent with his values.
Can you really call it "professing" if nobody actually believes you and you know nobody will believe you?
It used to be that politicians suffered in the polls when they flip flopped, but the only one Trump would suffer is if he went against his base.
Like when he floated that maybe the covid vaccine was ok.
Honestly, his base tends to follow him, so as long as it's not a core belief, he could flip on a number of things without incident.
It's disgusting and I really don't understand why his base tolerates it.
Because the relationship between him and his "base" isn't one between citizens and politician, it's a literally a cult following their leader.
So what you're saying is he professes to have beliefs which he doesn't actually have?
Nobody believes that anything he says constitutes a belief...
That's irrelevant. When he says "I believe X", he is professing that he believes something. Just because we know he's lying doesn't mean he isn't saying it.
That kinda logic scares the hell out of me, btw. People are just so numb to it that it's like their brains are short circuiting.
That's kind of like random people confessing to killing Brian Thompson. Is it really a confession if everyone knows you're lying? Likewise, is it really a protestation if neither the speaker nor listener believes it?
When he came with the ban idea he used the same argument of national security that is the hypocritical part. Like you say the real reason is just political convenient
He also claimed national security when he messed with tariffs. At this point, it's just an excuse to do something to grab headlines.
It is more in line with a puppet, that has zero understanding of anything, being told what to say as it is convenient.
If we were talking about a sane person, I don't see why a person cannot change his mind.
Trump is just playing the fools.
Trump doesn't have a mind to change. I doubt he even remembers he ever proposed a ban and this is just some advisor telling him that doing the opposite of Biden will get him likes.
Trump's basically a fractal hypocrisy, which is, as I understand it, why and how the grift keeps grifting.
Sort of, yes. It is a counterintelligence/disinformation app, and for that reason it makes MAGA look good. MAGA now controls all 3 of the top disinformation apps: Twitter, Facebook , and Tiktok. This is the war on truth; facts and honesty lost.
Not to mention they've bought out every previously legitimate news source.
Give'em the disease then sell'em the cure.
What is this format from?
Dune 2 I think.
Ah I have yet to watch it. Didn't realize Walken was in it.
Trump started the whole thing because he was unpopular on Tiktok. Republicans jumped on board because young people were politically organizing on the platform and they don't like that.
But up to that point, there was no really effort, even as much as they tried to claim "national security".
Then when the real information about Palestine was being spread there the democrats jumped on board because they are the same as republicans when if comes to foreign policy.
That's what started the actual push that gained momentum. They had no actual evidence about the stuff they claimed. Also, if the claim applied to Tiktok, it applies to all the other social media. But they don't actually care about privacy. They only care about a platform that they couldn't control and wasn't catering to them.
If they cared about privacy, they would have pushed general privacy legislation and/or regulation and oversight on all social media.
The reversal was Biden realizing he does not have a good legacy and with Trump, there was a lot more content this time around that was pro-trump (and also tiktok gave him a million dollars). So now he gets to claim he "saved tiktolk" when he was the start of the whole thing.
All CEOs understood how to behave with such an arrogant person: flatter him and he will bow to your every wims.
Bow even harder and you get pardoned for every crime you did..
Who came up with this pardon shit anyway?!
Yes.
Obviously. They see the game. They played the game.
Why did the Democrats fall for it though?
Because they’re very dumb.
No, this is just what it looks like when evil encoaches. Having no true ethical or moral obligations it decides everything on a case by case basis and if it can't be controlled then it is destroyed.
It will go on like that for several years now. One shit show, and then the next one, and then the next three ones...
Yeah, the super obvious political stunt was a political stunt. It only fools those that don't pay any attention or don't know how anything works. Biden said he would not enforce the order, that trump signed during his first term, to ban tiktok. Then tiktok chose to shut itself down for a day and chose to turn itself back on with its political pandering notice. It is all to manipulate it's users while also paying fealty to the incoming president (because China knows that is how easy he is to control).
Given that he was the one that called for it to be banned extremely vocally, and he's not been able to keep it banned for more than a few hours even as the now leader of that country, seemingly caving under pressure to flip his stance on the matter (showing off the bat that he's very politically weak)....
I don't see how this makes him look anything but weak, or inept.
Ahh, but see you're been following this over several months/years, or looked up what actually happened. You're not the target for this dupe.
This tactic works incredibly well as you'll find you are outside the norm. I still remember people ranting about how Obama was late responding to Hurricane Katrina.
Welcome to Politics 2.0 where the information is freely available but the facts don't matter.
"Caving under pressure"? This is a massive win for him, he just got every single major corp app out there to agree to push his agenda and thrawrt his opponents. How many posts today have been showing search results in various apps being fucky?
Bytedance didnt have to block their app yesterday, they did it perfomantly, and virtually everyone bought it hook like and sinker.
You are dreaming if you think the perception of this event to the average person is the weakness of a certain inflated organge hemmoroid.
His cohort of billionare buddys now control discussion and content on a hugely concerning portion of all public communication channels that currently exist.
Humans on average are already disappointingly stupid. Now this administration is actively discoraging free, critical thought and discussion and encouraging the use of algorithmically powered, emotionally draining, knowledge obfuscating, personal data collection software viruses that people willingly install.
On those apps he and his friends look like amazing heroes, and will for the next 4 years, regardless of the events of reality. Then we will have to vote with millions of people who only use these apps for information. Best of luck to us all.
TikTok had to make Trump look good as he presumably saves it so they did that stunt. In the end both sides know TT has to agree to selling majority stake because it isn’t anything China didn’t do to US firms multiple times already.
It likely was, hell it had me fooled. I was honestly about to say "Maybe I was wrong about him? Maybe Kamala losing won't be so bad..."
But then he signed the Transgender order and on the same day Musk did the Nazi salute and I'm like "And this is what I get for questioning my own world view."
At least I voted Harris in the election and spent literally only two or three days (17-20) being fooled, and let's be honest, it was Copium, not truly being swayed
And this is why democracy sucks. Voters have the memory of a flea and the emotions of a toddler.
- "Democracy is the worst form of govt except for all the other ones that have been tried"
Can someone explain to me how they believe the Trump team convinced Biden to sign the ban?
If you think it was a stunt for the benefit of Trump, you’re implying the Biden admin was in on it. Doesn’t make sense to me. Seems the more likely scenario is Biden just royally fucked up again to the point of somehow making Trump look good.
I thought the stunt was on the part if TikTok. They shut down when they didn't have to and then came back on all chummy with Trump when he announced the 90 day extension. The play was to kiss Trump's ass. Biden signed it and they took advantage of the situation.
Yes.
Do you know any dopamine addicts who lost their minds for a week straight? You know the ones. Giving more permissions to shady apps to scratch their itch?
Sad world we live in lolol.
The whole thing? No. The 14 hour temper tantrum? Absolutely.
Yes, I also think that was bait, because ban started few days before begin of Trump term and ban was not really working. It had a lot of bugs, simple VPN could byoass it, "YES, user who logged in ONLY from USA and now loggin from Europ REALLY IS NOT AN AMERICAN NOW!!!". That two things make me to think it was a bait.
Still doesn't look good.
Tiktok is an app for stupid people so naturally stupid people would be more gullible.
If it's that problematic with propaganda then banning it after an election was a meaningless gesture. It served it's purpose and reversing the ban was simply transactional. They paid money and kissed the ring.
This man will always be a moron.
Only to people who aren't complete fucking morons. Which, doesn't seem to be enough.
While the whole situation is shitty, I find it hard to believe a massive company would shut down services for 12 hours, losing millions in revenue and likely millions of users, all as a PR stunt for a foreign leader.
No, and that's an incredibly stupid premise. Trump wasn't the one to push the Ban. He wasn't the one to keep it going to completion, and he sure didn't PLAN on not having a second consecutive term. He's just following his most basic programming of If Biden did(Thing); Undo(Thing)
He was the one who initiated the ban...
So you would suggest that Trump initiated the ban just so he could block it at the last minute, in an effort to make himself look good? If the Donvict hadn't gotten himself thrown out of office and had been able to see if through, there is no reality in which he then overturns his own ban at the last moment. He purely and only overturned it here because it was not seen as something He did, but something Biden did.
The premise that Trump pulled a bait and switch, deliberately initiating the ban specifically so he could "look good" by overturning it is absolutely idiotic. He overturned it because Biden finished it, and "Undo Biden" is one of his overriding directives.
I really doubt it. Trump just did the obvious, grabbed the low hanging fruit, and contradicted the Biden administration because that’s all he can do. No conspiracy needed; that would afford trump forethought and cunning he isn’t capable of. He can’t think past his next Big Mac or tweet.
you underestimate too much. trump is just a face, there are plenty of people working with him and planning all kinds of shit. any kid plans some trickeries while playing board games. what makes you think a political group is incapable of forethought?
Why, he had no need of it whatsoever, unfathomably he has won control of everything and owes no one anything. Also the world is just not this well managed, it's all just chaos and carnage and design in hindsight.
Ah, but he does need something... continual attention and praise. Narcissists gonna narcissist.
Then why mention his name at all. It's just like the covid checks, Trump demands/wants the attention.
Nobody except genocide joe thought it was a good idea to censor an extremely popular app because it revealed the truth about his genocide.
Biden reversed Trump's previous executive order banning it and said he would just support whatever Congress decides, and both sides of Congress bipartisanly supported a ban. But sure... Only Genocide Joe. 🙄
That's old news, it's "Genocide Don" now.
He's already truly beloved by most. This really isn't needed to rally further support. This seems like nonsense. To any thoughtful few there are no options for redemption for this dumb shit.
Put down whatever it is that's causing ypu to believe Trump is beloved by most. He has the second lowest approval rating in history.
Give him a chance. He has a big base of hateful bigots and his approval rating is climbing. He's currently at 50%. Are you locked in a big liberal city or something? Where I am at people absolutely rave about him. I've never seen banners for presidents hanging on homes, so many bumper stickers. Even in NYC, every gift shop is full of trump memorabilia. He's wildly popular and while polarizing factors will make approval ratings and averages not get much higher than 50%, the hateful scum that love him really love him.
there are no approval ratings for a day one POTUS.
There are constant polls on 'popularity'. Fox News has recent data and Marquette and Reuters do too. Sure these are imperfect but it's a pretty sane thing to say he is beloved / popular. Denying that is what had people so shocked when he one the popular vote. People are so siloed now that they fail to see how so much of the population really likes the guy. This willful ignorance is dangerous.
Saw the same kind of denial about Putin. People not in touch with real Russians felt he was a just a feared overlord. Truth is majority of people there really like him.
Popularity and approval rating are not the same. Approval trating is asking peoplehow he is doing as POTUS. Popularity determines if you know who they are.
Not if you know who they are but if you like them. Trump is well liked by many if not most Americans. A decent amount of people downright practically worship the guy. In the sense that he is a dumb senile oaf he is not classically charismatic, but he has the attention and artificial grandeur attached to him that is usually related to charisma.
No, popularity is if you recognize the name
Likeability is if you like them.
Approval rating is how you feel about the job they are doung.
These things all have real meanings in polling. There are no approval polls for the first day available immediately. His first approval poll will come out on Monday.
Your perception based on what you see around ypu might not reflect how the nation feels as a whole.
I don't think there was any grand Machiavellian scheme. Trump just capitalized on historic democrat incompetence to make himself look good.
Which part of Trump proposing, implementing and then yesterday delaying the ban was down to Democrat incompetence?
Please explain how Trump managed to implement this ban with a democrat controlled senate and Joe Biden as president.
Thanks, I'll field this extremely easy question - By executive order before it was a bipartisan bill supported by every level of government:
In 2020, President Donald Trump proposed a ban of the app as he viewed it as a national security threat. In August, he signed an executive order instructing that ByteDance divest from the app, though the order was blocked by a court injunction in September and was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.
To me, making sure that everyone agrees with a new policy before it becomes law, and sending it through the proper channels to be debated and then enacted, doesn't really seem like a dumb thing.
The dumb thing would be to propose a new law, enact it unilaterally, have it revoked because it was enacted unilaterally, then have everyone agree on it anyway when you pass it through the proper channels, then toss it in the trash yourself at literally the first opportunity.
So why did Democrats fall for it?
To try to make him look bad, is my theory.
So they're fucking stupid?
The law stipulates that the POTUS is the person who determines that a platform or app is in violation. Once that happens, an investigation is launched through the AG's office and applicable agencies. After that the AG's office makes a determination about whether or not the app/platform is in violation of the law. Once that happens, the platform or app can appeal. But if they lose that appeal then they have a limited time to divest to another entity before their platform is banned and the POTUS can pause not revoke this process for a period of time (to give the app time to divest as is required). So basically Trump now has given Tik Tok a stay of execution so to speak but that doesn't mean they won't be forced to shut down or divest.
This was a direct politically planned and intended effect of this push so close to the inauguration, so far as I can tell. It's politicians doing political stuff.
Right now he looks like the savior (and that's intentional, both Tik Tok and Trump get something out of that). But in the long term I don't know that most Tik Tok users are going to remember that Trump bought the app back and to actually remove the law requires an act of Congress. That will take more time than the limited amount that Trump can essentially delay the removal of the app from app stores and American servers.
I honestly think this was a fuck you to Trump from Biden because essentially Biden's political career is over. Trump is going to do a lot of damage over the next 4 years and do as much as he can to undo any of the progress that has been made. It's kind of a petty move on Biden's part, but Trump started this colossal movement against Tik Tok in the first place.
I think both of you are right: The idea of banning TikTok came during his presidency and he campaigned for it.
However it was a policy supported by Biden and with bipartisan vote, which means Dems were playing at home, so it was on them to not look stupid.
It is mentioned in some news that the Facebook people pushed a lot for TikTok's ban so they could capitalize on a user exodus, though that TikTok feasts on user data and shares it back in China is also true. However you don't solve that with a ban, you solve that with a proper privacy policy. But no US company wants that, no sir. So the Dems were played like the devil went down to Georgia and they were the proverbial fiddle.
But.. I guess saying this is preaching to the choir as most people in here are dutifully aware of privacy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯