On the night of January 18, TikTok customers within the U.S. discovered themselves in social media limbo as they bought their final scrolls in earlier than the ban set in. Opening the app, they had been greeted with two cryptic messages. The primary promised that TikTok was engaged on restoring service rapidly, whereas the second had an eerie addendum: “We’re lucky that President Trump has indicated that he’ll work with us on an answer to reinstate TikTok as soon as he takes workplace.”
Just a bit over 12 hours later, TikTok was again. A brand new message congratulated customers for his or her persistence, saying, “On account of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is again within the U.S.”
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A feel-good second orchestrated by a returning savior chief? Not fairly. Whereas some customers glad to see the return of the app and a few of its current favorites like Spencer Pratt posting as quickly because it was again up, many TikTok customers had been fast to take to Reddit with their receipts, blasting via any try at rewriting historical past.
“Bear in mind,” one consumer started. “Trump began this in 2020 with an Govt Order… He created this drawback.” They weren’t exaggerating. Again in August 2020, an in-office President Trump threatened to ban TikTok outright, citing imprecise nationwide safety issues. Customers shared screenshots ofheadlines from that summer time, with dominating declarations like, “Trump says he’s banning TikTok within the U.S.” What started as a legally questionable govt order to ban the app ended up being dismissed by the courts.
Now, with political theater in full swing, many customers see these recent TikTok developments as little greater than a self-serving act.
“The message is so dystopian,” one other pissed off commenter weighed in. “He’s not even president but, however now he’s swooping in like some savior? This feels so suspicious and makes me not even need to be on the app.” Echoes of mistrust reverberated via the threads, with some drawing consideration to Meta’s current choice to eradicate fact-checking on its platforms, together with Fb and Instagram. “I don’t belief any of it,” one other consumer concluded. “State-run media appears like the following step.”
Elon Musk isn’t off the hook both, with X (previously Twitter) including to the digital chaos. Musk’s erratic management at X, together with Zuckerberg’s historical past of fostering misinformation and propaganda — just like the Fb-Cambridge Analytica scandal that closely influenced the 2016 presidential election — is sparking severe concern. Many are questioning whether or not TikTok would possibly shift from a platform for creativity, small companies, and activists to arrange to a software for blatant propaganda.
Whereas Trump is likely to be desirous to recast himself because the steward of free speech, many aren’t shopping for it — or all that trusting of the post-ban type of TikTok.
