Summary
Despite previously attempting to ban TikTok over national security concerns, Donald Trump now champions the platform, which went offline in the U.S. Sunday under a controversial ban upheld by the Supreme Court.
TikTok is good for Trump because it is a maelstrom of disinformation so massive that even Elon Musk-controlled Twitter cannot compete.
The app’s algorithm spreads disinformation and emotionally manipulative content, which boosts Trump’s messaging.
Critics warn that TikTok fosters disconnection, exploiting empathy to exhaust users and distract them from meaningful real-world action.
This could be true if the ban was content-neutral but, on the contrary, the ban is explicitly intended to limit Americans’ access to content that the government disapproves of. The right to free speech includes the right to hear. Americans have the right to listen to Chinese propaganda if they so choose and banning TikTok is exactly the same sort of censorship (differing only in degree) as the Chinese government’s censorship of information coming from outside China.
The whole idea of using government coercion to control “disinformation” is censorious in a way that violates the 1st amendment. People have the right to speak, the right to listen to, and the right to encourage others to listen to even the things that the government considers to be harmful lies.
I don’t care why Trump reverses the TikTok ban, as long as he does.