This TikTok ban is complete bullshit. From everything I’ve read this is pure rah-rah anti-China. Yes TikTok is 100% a propaganda factory and its algorithm is dangerous but so is Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

If you care about the problems this ban purports to solve we need genuine algorithm, privacy, and data laws to protect the citizens of the U.S. of A. — which would just so happen to include TikTok. This of course would take down too many U.S.-based morally-bankrupt ad-tech, data broker, and social media companies. So yeah, let’s just turn a blind eye to that and let’s just focus on this one Chinese company in particular.

It’s also a call to action to build alternatives to the giants (projects like loops.video spring to mind). To all of you out there who consider yourself a “content creator”: take your videos and share them on the web. Don’t let your livelihood be subject to a single algorithm that can’t control.

As much as I despise at the term “content creator” (come on, it completely devalues your work) I do feel bad for these people caught in the crosshairs here. These people built an audience on TikTok and they just lost their entire network of followers. Imagine running a bakery and you had to change locations overnight but you have no means of telling your regulars — talk about putting all your breads in one basket.

The internet is vast and wild. Get out of the silos.