Donald Trump has successfully used xenophobia and fake concerns about propaganda and national security to get what he’s long wanted: TikTok (and its fat ad revenues) are poised to be sold off to his right wing billionaire buddies and, inevitably, slowly converted into a right wing propaganda safe space.
Early reporting by the Wall Street Journal also indicates that existing TikTok users will have to migrate to a new app.
If this is true it’s a massive opportunity for a competitor to step in
Doesn’t the Chinese government have something to say about this?
They did.
It was “Ka-ching!”
You honestly think the monetary value of Tiktok long-term is higher than the value of watching your geopolitical adversary pay you for the rope they’ll use to hang themselves with?
I would think it would be more like, giving your adversary control of a very powerful tool of indoctrination, or keeping it for yourself. Especially when it also involves giving up a long-term revenue stream. Because you know Trump isn’t going to pay fair market value for it, right?
Losing tiktok, would be a lose / lose for China. No amount up front, would be enough to cover the long-term benefits of keeping it.
That could work of nobody knew it was changing to another hands. But once everybody knows it’s not the same, people flee.
You’d think…but that isn’t really the case. People have known what tiktok is for years, and still use it. Alao, look at Twitter. Everyone knows what Elon Musk bought it for, and what he’s turned it into…but people still use it.
Slowly…?
