this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Even though i dont think banning tiktok is a good idea purely because of the concept, those boards are funny. "Tiktok changed my life for the better"

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

They're also all printed, and with the same font. I'm assuming it's a stock photo, but if that's from a real protest I don't trust those protestors.who the hell gets a protest sign printed?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Its because the company literally paid shills to stump for them in person, call Congress, etc.

[–] Maggoty 5 points 2 months ago

They paid for lobbyists!?! Holy shit hold the presses!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

literally paid shills

No *one outside of some influencers were paid lmao. People contacted Congress but they weren't paid, and a quick Google search brought up zero result of people being paid *outside of the influencers. So I'd love to see where you're sourcing this from.

Edit: Correction - about 30 influencers were paid to visit events for Tik Tok. I'll rescind saying that literally no one was paid: that's point is wrong. My main point was that average users weren't paid to call into Congress. And the vast majority that called in or have talked out against the ban did so of their own volition rather than being paid as implied by OP's comment

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Its because the company literally paid shills to stump for them in person, call Congress, etc.

The way it was presented was that they paid average users to call Congress which is disingenuous. I'll admit I was wrong when I came to the influencers being paid for in person events, but that's only a smaller group of people and events. The vast majority were not paid and did so of their own volition.

Edit: Didn't realize OP and the replier were different people. That's also on me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What are you downvoting me for? I didn't write that post lol...

BTW, you might want to update your correction: According to https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-rally-washington-chew-testimony/

While some influencers report paying their own airfare to Washington, everyone we talked to took the free hotel. It’s unclear precisely what folks were offered as part of the trip to Washington, but seemingly everyone got one perk or another. Beyond the more than 30 influencers in attendance, along with their travel buddies, WIRED counted 10 other people who were, in one way or another, at the Capitol on behalf of TikTok.

30 influencers and their plus ones and 10 other people are paid. These are only people that wired has talked to, so there might be more people being paid one way or another.

And "everyone we talked to took the free hotel": everyone wired has talked to has received some benefit from tiktok.

I don't really know the scale of the rally, but seeing the rally photo from different sources: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dc+tiktok+protest&iax=images&ia=images , it seem like most cameras are pointing towards the same 15 people, all with signs distributed by tiktok.

I don't think I will be as confident as you about the size of the protest. Even if there were 100 people there, that still means over 50% of the protesters received direct compensation from TikTok specifically for this protest.

[–] Maggoty 4 points 2 months ago

Lots of protests actually. It's not hard.

[–] McDropout 13 points 2 months ago

A lot of people started their businesses on Tiktok. The Tiktok algorithm is actually way better than that of Instagram to reach your target niche. A lot content creators and marketing exes do realize this.

I don’t understand the mentality of users, of course of obviously older generation here, that realize Tiktok did in fact change a lot of people’s lives. It’s not just an app for dancing.

Let’s not forget the Tiktok Shop section.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Imagine licking the boots of any corporate like this LOL.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I believe they are talking about a specific community that has formed over TikTok, a very anticapitalist and cosmopolitan one, and not about the platform itself.

If your algorithm is favoring that content, your short videos will be full of people talking about all things wrong in our global state of affairs; alternatives and temporal solutions (that happen to harm corporations, ironically because the information is becoming popular thanks to one, so I guess it's the ladder to get to the rooftop); global situations that are not talked or barely talked on regular news (like Congo, Palestine, etc.); the truth behind Western propaganda and lies, especially the ones against populations and ideologies (e.g., "this country doesn't prosper because they're [whatever]" vs "we exploited and condemn this country to scarcity for decades and lied about it"); etcetera. In my time there, I've learnt a couple things.

I know that these content creators will find another platform if TikTok goes down. Lemmy has shown me that social media can be free of corporations, but that's something many people are not aware of yet, especially since the techy people that could explain it on TikTok are not there.

So... yeah, TikTok has some interesting sides content-wise. There's even the rumor that this is one of the reasons they want it banned in the U.S.