this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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politics

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Summary

Donald Trump called TikTok "worthless" and suggested he might not intervene to lift its nationwide ban, which took effect on January 19 over national security concerns about its Chinese ownership.

Previously, Trump had pledged to save TikTok, citing its role in his campaign's social media success, but his latest remarks hinted at demands for U.S. ownership of the platform.

House Speaker Mike Johnson supported the ban, citing fears of Chinese influence on TikTok's algorithms.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 minutes ago
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 hour ago

Bidding war. Zuckerberg paid more.

Your move China.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 minutes ago

A platform that probably helped him a lot becoming the president. How ironic.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 hours ago

Check bounced? Nah he got the check and it cleared and the world's tiniest gear spun in his head and he thought "what if 2 checks?!?!!?".

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 hours ago

Guess they didn't donate enough to his inauguration fund.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Imagine having your entire business plans hanging on the whims of this orange dickhead.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

I suspect it's a share price influencing game with some of his pals.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

After the pump, comes the dump.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 hours ago

I'm getting whiplash from all the backtracking and it's only day two.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Did tiktok not offer to kiss his ass or pay him tribute like all the other companies?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 52 minutes ago

i think zuckerberg kissed his ass harder and more affectionately than tiktok did

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

They're not letting him have a cut of the company cake.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago

let me guess? Zuckerberg phoned him up and reminded him of all that lovely lobby money that had been shared around!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 hours ago

Meta dropped a bigger check maybe.

[–] kata1yst 10 points 5 hours ago

Elno reminded him he owns both X and Trump.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 hours ago

Probably did. Could easily be a grifter move to dupe them into writing another check. Suckers.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I was sticking with rednote anyway.

spoiler

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

Even if this were psy-ops... this is how you write psy-ops, goddamn

[–] Kecessa 14 points 6 hours ago

I was sticking to not joining social media owned by people who want to make profit with my info...

[–] [email protected] 145 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Man, I really hope he does the double-flipflop on this and bans it again. Because Tiktok pulled the stunt this weekend to kiss his ass, blocking the app preemptively for the USA and crediting Trump with "saving" it with the popup message. This would be most disruptive to the propaganda pushers on both sides of the globe, and piss off the most people against them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 24 minutes ago

it still amuses that people expect anything else from his presidency. it will be a "highest bidder wins" war.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

u-turning so fast he's basically drifting in circles.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

Trump holds no convictions outside filling his ego hole. He will go with whatever the most influential person that talked to him last. His u-turn here doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 hours ago (3 children)
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[–] Corkyskog 6 points 7 hours ago

It will be especially funny because they have had a lot more conservative type join as well, and based off everyone complaining about their "algorithm" it seems like those types are enjoying themselves...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

What a capricious shit.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

"Donald Trump says dumb fucking thing after other dumb fucking contradictory thing"

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The Onion should just print this headline every day for the next 4 years.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 hours ago

Nah, that's too realistic for The Onion. It needs to be something like, 'Pandemonium Ensues After Trump Utters First Coherent Sentence.'

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 hours ago

And this strategy works for him just fine. People who like him will believe the thing they want to hear and some of the people who would have opposed him will be confused and delay action because they think maybe it's just going to work out and they should focus elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 hours ago

He logged in and instead of seeing people praising him, he saw people continue to mock him and call him a dumb, fascist, piece of shit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 hours ago

He's talking big so that Tiktok sells their US operations to Elon. Then he gets to take credit as a deal maker.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

This is leverage, nothing more. He has every intention of saving it. He's just going to make sure that he gets his cut and assurances that any anti-Trump videos be scrubbed and any searches return no results. And he wants to make sure they continue to do what he wants, when he wants, and the way he wants by literally hanging a potential ban over their heads that he can sign into effect by EO at the stroke of his favorite sharpie.

It is literally a Mafia protection racket on steroids.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 44 minutes ago* (last edited 44 minutes ago)

I disagree. Trump and Musk own competitors to TokTok.

They are not going to hurt themselves in order to help a Chinese competitor.

Also, they are now in the ones in charge AND the Chinese government is actually using TikTok to spy on THEM.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

How does this lower the cost of my eggs?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 53 minutes ago

You can suck on Trump’s eggs for a million. Dale Huevo!!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 hours ago

You missunderstood. This ends the war in Ukraine

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

That was a strange video to listen to. He wants the US to own half... Like nationalizing the platform?

[–] [email protected] 64 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

He wants his cut, like the mafia

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 hours ago

To "wet his beak"

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I don't think he understands the difference between a government and a corporation. Like, he imagines the US is just his now. Just a big hotel, he can buy and sell bits of it to make money. Buy Greenland and Tiktok, sell Puerto Rico and the USS George Bush. Add a cover charge for Canada and Mexico.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 hours ago

To be fair, at this point there is barely any difference.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

I guess they won't sell to Musk.

[–] _thebrain_ 3 points 6 hours ago

Musk supported Trump so Trump would give tiktok to him. Tiktok would rather go out of business then sell.

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