March 13, 2024 - 7:30pm
Let’s assume the bill that just passed in the House irrevocably changes TikTok, either via a ban or a cultural disruption under new ownership. (Think the way Twitter, now X, changed under Musk.)
Will teenagers “freak out”, as former president Donald Trump predicted? Will Joe Biden lose the youth vote? Will the culture fostered on TikTok disappear?
If TikTok, or just TikTok as we know it, disappeared, it would obviously be disruptive for the app’s massive base of young American users. But it’s also unlikely to spell the end of short-form video content or the communities that have made TikTok their home (sorry Mike Gallagher!). Unfortunately for our social media-shy social commentators and policymakers, online communities are resilient and adaptable to turbulent platform changes. Historically, this has proved true on any scale. Ban a “toxic” subreddit and a forum emerges in its stead. Kill an entire platform, and people migrate.
Dedicated users find ways to move en masse to new digital spaces that serve their needs, like refugees seeking a new homeland. This pattern of forced migration has happened dozens of times throughout internet history. One example is what happened when LiveJournal, a blogging platform and social network immensely popular with fandoms in the 2000s began to alienate users through policy changes and an ownership transition many saw as hostile. Restrictive content rules, deletions of fan material deemed “obscene”, and unpopular design decisions prompted an exodus to Tumblr and sites like Archive of Our Own (AO3).
This migration kept the communities largely intact, with users rebuilding their fan networks and continuing traditions on the new platforms. In fact, some saw it as an opportunity to establish fresher, more thoughtfully designed digital spaces tailored to their needs. TikTok users would likely follow a similar trajectory.
The most obvious migration path would be moving to short-form video features on well-established social apps such as Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts. Some more niche fan communities may gravitate to nerdier, fandom-oriented spaces like Discord. There may also be attempts to build TikTok alternatives from scratch, replicating the features, design and community elements that users valued most while fixing its flaws — untouched by Big Tech — or attempts to revive older platforms, such as Tumblr.
Over time, one of these upstarts could emerge as a worthy successor that captures the magic of TikTok, just as it came to overshadow Vine. The disappearance of TikTok the app would not extinguish the spirit of TikTok — it would just move elsewhere.
What’s more, TikTok may have already been on the road to resembling a “digital ghost town”, eerily similar to the fate of once-dominant social network MySpace, or Facebook. While it has a dedicated American user base, which Pew Research found includes 63% of US teens aged 13-17, studies also show that the demographics are changing. Today, nearly 40% of TikTok users are in their 30s and 40s.
This bill was born from fears about nebulous “national security concerns.” When policymakers and commentators are pressed about those concerns, they ultimately boil down to “the CCP can use TikTok to influence public opinion.” The real surprise might be that the CCP had less influence than the US government suspects. Still, ban or no ban — young people will survive. There will be no revolt.
Katherine Dee is a writer. To read more of her work, visit defaultfriend.substack.com.
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SubscribePity that the Chinese population does not have similar freedom to digitally migrate
maybe the author could consider why tik tok is so popular, and why the others are not.
Because they got in there first?
Or perhaps the purpose of TikTok is not to provide a platform for young, Western narcissists but rather to gather behavioural data?
Tiktok disappearing probably doesn’t matter in the great scheme of things. The problem for the lawmakers in the US is it’s reach now, prior to being shutdown.
A snap campaign from Tiktok advocates on the platform along the lines of ‘Joe Biden is shutting down fun’ or is disrespecting young people by closing Tiktok could turn young, mostly apolitical, but still democrat, voters away from voting for Biden in a year where election margins look very slim for a Biden re-election.
Surely the problem here is banning this form of free speech by the government. As RFKJr says, all rights historically have been banned in the name of national security while tyrants flatter themselves that they protect the people. The battle here is not over one platform or another. It
Is about government over reach. Aka censorship.
People can say what they want, just not on Chinese Spyware masquerading as a platform.
Not sure the point of this article
Yes tick tock users will migrate. So what.
The point here is that platforms owned and run by enemy or enemy aligned states can weaponise any collected data.
Attacking ‘Cultural.health’ of a society is still grey zone warfare
Precisely.
While the government should not censor speech, getting rid of known enemy Spyware in this country seems like a no-brainer. Probably why this bill has such bipartisan support.
Our own governments are as malign as any Chinese owned entity. Just ask Matt Taibi, Jay Bhattacharya or Michael Shellenberger.
Agreed. But that’s a different problem.
TikTok, like all social media, are data gathering operations and you are the revenue source. The extent of CCP’s data gathering is unknown. What they’re using the data for is unknown. How deep they are getting into members’ photos, emails, text messages, other app usage, the data of other cell-plan subscribers who are not on TikTok but whose data are exposed because of their daughter’s account is unknown. The author reminds me of a lot of my daughters’ friends who can’t imagine that social media is really that powerful and dangerous of a force because, you know, that’s where all their friends are. Her premise is this: it doesn’t matter what legislation you pass because some other entity will come along and herd us once again into a critical mass where we can be held captive and manipulated. Why fight it?
This platform has obviously been aimed at children. It wouldn’t surprise me if the regime in China commissioned their developers to train it on the youth overseas.
It’s made the CCP as happy as marketeers. Less for reasons of spying but corrupting Western youth and dividing their societies.