It’s a strange world when Big Brother thinks it has to step in to solve the “evil” of TikTok in America. As CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before U.S. Congress, the legislative branch is taking a backlash from Americans who find the TikTok circus a façade rather than an actual pursuit of truth.
What is the attempt to ban TikTok really about? On the surface, it’s about protecting user data in America, and making sure, somehow, that the Chinese government doesn’t use the popular short-form video social media app to spread misinformation. Of course, TikTok users should only share information they are comfortable with, and should only believe information that can be backed up by credible sources. So, what is really at the bottom of this inquiry and invasion of the personal liberties of the American people?
It has to be more than that when Congress seems to be personally attacking the CEO, and not really asking questions. It’s like they’ve turned the entire hearing into a lecture and a yelling match parading as an inquiry. Who’s the show for, exactly?
The Washington Post may have the scoop; they reported that Mark Zuckerberg has paid Targeted Victory, a consulting firm out of Arlington, Virginia, to push “local operatives across the country to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children.”
The article continues, “The campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.”
How ironic is it that the case involving the spreading of misinformation might have originated from the spreading of misinformation? And further ironically, if that’s a thing, despite fact-checkers on Facebook reportedly making sure misinformation isn’t being spread on the platform, Facebook itself is involved in the spreading of disinformation, which unlike misinformation, harbors an intent to mislead, to influence users away from TikTok and back to Facebook, or as it’s been rebranded, Meta.
This is what a circus looks like when bad actors are trying to play games in front of the American people.
As if they could look any worse.
The greatest fallacy of this Big Brother approach to U.S. government may be that it thinks it’s too big to fail. The government is elected by the people, remember? And the generation growing up and set to take over would seem to be tired of this TikTok fearmongering.
The best line of them all, what’s the point?
Every social media platform has social problems, many of which can’t be regulated away. Social ills have to be addressed with the power of social awareness, but sure, it’s all TikTok’s fault.
Is Congress qualified to figure this one out? Just because they were elected doesn’t mean they have the right to step into every problem America faces and try to solve it.
For anyone who is worried about a TikTok ban, this is more like an SNL skit. If it becomes serious, there will always be more places to go to share personal information and be misinformed about what’s going on in the world. No government can regulate the impulse to make asses of ourselves.
