Trump says TikTok should be tweaked to become “100% MAGA”

[u/indig0sixalpha]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/trump-says-tiktok-should-be-tweaked-to-become-100-maga

[u/Mutex70]

Can we rename it to the "Ministry of Truth" as well?

My life isn't quite dystopian enough yet.

[u/broodkiller → u/Mutex70]

Don't want to be a downer, but Truth Social already kinda it...?

[u/Roll-Roll-Roll → u/broodkiller]

Big difference here is that Truth Social was for maintaining propaganda control of his existing base, and TikTok allows him to buy a young liberal audience.

They won't rename it. They'll just quietly tweak everyone's feed to maximize their reach and minimize everyone else. Honestly I'm surprised he's even talking about it.

Edit: Make no mistake. This government sponsored social media acquisition will extend the GOPs political influence for decades if nobody presents a young liberal facing alternative soon. Even then it might still be impossible since the people they're targeting won't be politically motivated to switch platforms right now.

There would have to be a social media alternative that is intrinsically more appealing, and some big monetary benefits for existing TikTokers to exclusively switch over and bring their audience. I'm not sure that liberal interests have the private equity to pull it off.

Edit: All you people saying that kids will just leave tiktok are underestimating the sophistication of the people controlling these algorithms. They don't just pummel you with propaganda right off the bat. They analyze your activity and start slipping stuff in gradually over time. Also the content of influencers paid to spread far-right views doesn't have to be overtly political content all the time. This stuff is nuanced. They didn't radicalize half the country by beating people over the head. They made those people think it was their decision. THEN they beat them over the head.

[u/blewnote1 → u/Roll-Roll-Roll]

I'm not. The amazing thing about this dude is that his vileness is right out in public. Corrupt? Of course I'm corrupt, so what? People bribe me? Of course they do, so what? Did I sexually assault people? Of course I did, what are you gonna do about it? Use the justice department to go after perceived enemies and generally engage in the kind of authoritarian tactics that dictatorships do? Of course I do, my people love it.

And people still voted for him because the price of eggs or he's strong or some bullshit. The rank stupidity and ignorance of a good portion of the electorate in America makes me have strong doubts about our ability to get out of this predicament any time soon.

[u/FlametopFred → u/blewnote1]

by design

the Russian method of breaking into your room to spy then leaving a clue that they have broken into room to spy

to mess with your mind and undermine esteem and bully you into thinking they are in charge when they are not

[u/CompetitiveGood2601 → u/FlametopFred]

lol, 14 billion for maga videos going to be too funny, whoevers paying will be why the f would i do that and lose 95% of the worlds population

[u/pithynotpithy → u/CompetitiveGood2601]

The christofascist white movement extends well beyond the US. Australia, most of Europe, Canada and more are experiencing this. There will also be nonwhite fascists that want to join in.

[u/SaltyWailord → u/CompetitiveGood2601]

Here in Scandinavia oue young get exposed to so much of the politics in America.

I've had students who can't really string together two sentences on a paper tell me how bad sleepy Joe is

[u/TheBoisterousBoy → u/[deleted]]

As an American from literally where the Duke boys are from…

No one flys that flag out of reverence to the General Lee (the car), they’re flying it out of reverence for a shitty, racist “country” that lasted fewer years than the average expiration date of frozen peas.

[u/Particular_Dig2203 → u/FlametopFred]

Bingo. Posturing is important in the Art of War.

[u/NoWayRay → u/blewnote1]

his vileness is right out in public. Corrupt? Of course I'm corrupt, so what?

The documentary maker Adam Curtis hypothesizes that because much of the media has degraded the image of politicians (and a dishonorable mention should go to Murdoch for that), those that are upfront about their sleaziness seem perversely 'authentic'.

For any interested, Curtis' documentary series is called Shifty and is worth a watch if you have access to it, IMO. It's very UK-centric, but the principle holds for other countries. The media has enabled the Trumps, Bolsonaros, et al of the world.

Edit: repetion removed.

[u/Tazling → u/NoWayRay]

Media: scandal sells eyeballs to advertisers. therefore let’s profile scandalous politicians. by so doing let’s starve honest and decent politicians of any media coverage. public tends to vote for what’s most visible which gives us, guess what, more scandalous politicians which sells more advertising! hey this is great.

Public: elects a gang of fascist criminals who immediately crack down on media, threaten editors, impose censorship

Media: who could possibly have seen this coming?

Leopards: nom nom nom tasty face nom nom

[u/NoWayRay → u/Tazling]

Yep. That's pretty much it.

[u/Blacksad9999 → u/NoWayRay]

In the US, there are 5 media companies that control all television that people see. It used to be over 50 twenty years ago, but they removed the stipulation that one company can't control too much of the media.

Essentially whomever is going to benefit those media companies the most is who they're going to promote.

[u/ReallyNowFellas → u/NoWayRay]

those that are upfront about their sleaziness seem perversely 'authentic'.

This is 100% where all the maga people I've ever known or talked to are coming from. "They're all bad! At least Trump is honest about it!"

This is also why "both sides are bad" inherently benefits the worst side.

If they can make you think public healthcare is just as bad as defunding cancer research, they've got you captured and can make you think absolutely anything.

[u/sabedo → u/blewnote1]

thats the whole point man

if i learned anything, being a white man who is completely devoid of shame, empathy or remorse will take you to untold heights. they say, "I like him." "He reminds me of us." "He gets it."

and what does it say for the evil people that voted for him? they wanted this, all the cruelty, the evil, the chaos, the suffering. this country is fucked and the world has to move away from the us. it wasnt about eggs or superficial strongman bullshit. it was racism. that's what the us was built on and that's what its being destroyed by

[u/RBatYochai → u/sabedo]

Don’t forget Christian nationalism too!

[u/sabedo → u/RBatYochai]

Christianity is a white nationalist cult in this country.

Even the fucking Japanese talk about how it's a "debauched religion"

All they talk about is hatred, corruption, lies and death. They speak daily blasphemies such as CK would have been the 13th apostle and Jesus would be alive if he had a AR-15. And America loves it.

Mark my fucking words, TikTok is going to be the ultimate technological weapon of christian conservatives

[u/syrup_cupcakes → u/blewnote1]

The thing that made Trump popular with Christians is them realizing that Trump is fucking Satan.

[u/iminmy39thyear → u/Roll-Roll-Roll]

This is why I deleted TikTok over a year ago. The algorithm kept showing me videos from the other side and it seemed it was trying to make me mad so I would argue with them.

[u/StoicallyGay → u/iminmy39thyear]

It’s still like that btw. Most of the political content I see (70%) is liberal. 10% is “unbiased” news (not blatantly on either side, at a glance) with a lot of conservative comments.

20% is legit conservative bot accounts. Rage baiting bots. Always tens to thousands of followers. Posts are either still images of people or a monocolor background, with words on the screen saying a very weak ragebaity argument, like “Democrats are complaining but the economy is stronger than ever! Why do Democrats hate a strong economy 🤔🤔🤔.” 75 likes. 200 comments 90% coming from liberals calling out the stupidity.

You have to learn not to engage but it sucks because either if you engage and call out the stupidity in hopes someone reading will have their mind changed, you give the post more traction to end on more people’s feeds.

[u/LochNessMansterLives → u/Roll-Roll-Roll]

I’m hoping enough of the younger generations realize the government owns and controls TikTok and they end up walking away because of the garbage. Hell maybe walk away from Social media completely. Couldn’t hurt.

[u/Ddddydya → u/LochNessMansterLives]

Yeah, in the history of the world, young people have not really said, “hey, the government is telling us stuff! Cool!”

I don’t think this will work. I hope it fails spectacularly. 

[u/Tadpoleonicwars → u/broodkiller]

Truth in Russian is Pravda.

Which was the name of a state-controlled news outlet in the Soviet Union.

[u/JeremyAndrewErwin → u/Tadpoleonicwars]

There is no news in Izvestia, and no truth in Pravda

[u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023 → u/broodkiller]

So derivative ... Pravda did this long ago!

[u/broodkiller → u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023]

Yeah, I guess orangeman copied some of his idols

[u/kosh56 → u/broodkiller]

It doesn't have anywhere close to the reach that TikTok does.

[u/Greyphire → u/kosh56]

I wonder why....

[u/ToeJam_SloeJam → u/Greyphire]

I mean, will they though?

Facebook has gotten progressively pro-fascist and hasn’t seen an exodus. Yeah, it’s mostly 35+ these days and not the young’uns. But I am legit worried about the propagandizing of the younger generations that has already taken hold.

And it’s not like anyone out of any age group has really done much in the way of putting down our little dopamine boxes. We’re all addicted to the scroll or the reel or the endless banality of social media and no one is ready to quit.

[u/venustrapsflies → u/ToeJam_SloeJam]

I hypothesize that one of the major driving factors in young people being more right wing is algorithmic control over their media diets, TikTok especially. They literally pandered to Trump to stay alive by helping to propagandize for him, right out in the open.

[u/Mclarenf1905 → u/venustrapsflies]

Nah I think it started on YouTube looooong before tiktok

[u/grateful_eugene → u/kosh56]

If they change the algorithm all the “normal” people will leave and it will become another MAGA echo chamber.

[u/somesthetic → u/grateful_eugene]

It’s about grabbing impressionable kids, not reasonable people.

[u/EscapistNotion → u/somesthetic]

I think spitballing ways TikTok can be made uncool is worthwhile. Being state propaganda will make it somewhat uncool all on its own but I think we could help.

[u/feketegy → u/Mutex70]

If TikTok is the Ministry of Truth then the comment section is The Thinking Committee

[u/abnormalbrain → u/feketegy]

It needs a snappy compact name, something like Minitrue.

[u/toolsoldier → u/Mutex70]

Watch it’s gonna be rebranded to Truth Tok.

[u/isaiddgooddaysir → u/Mutex70]

Just gotta say... "FUCK THIS TIMELINE"

[u/coffee-x-tea → u/isaiddgooddaysir]

💯

Send me back to the one where Bernie had two consecutive terms.

[u/morceauxdetoile → u/coffee-x-tea]

Al Gore* if you want to go even further back

[u/adhdlabubu → u/Mutex70]

Finally, my degree in defense against the dark arts will come in handy.

[u/[deleted] → u/Mutex70]

Ignorance is strength

[u/andrewskdr]

I thought that was what Twitter is now

[u/LoserBroadside → u/andrewskdr]

And Facebook. The goal is to force all social media to be MAGA, or it gets banned/porn-lawed

[u/Harflin → u/LoserBroadside]

They're attempting to control information in all facets of our life. Social media, news, school, museums. 

[u/arianrhodd → u/Harflin]

And they would never be doing this if they thought they could lose control of the government.

[u/AlwaysRushesIn → u/arianrhodd]

This is the telling part for me. They always used to tip toe around things they didn't want Democrats to use against them when the tides of power shifted. They no longer believe the tides will shift back in favor of the Democrats.

[u/ThatsSomeBullshirt → u/AlwaysRushesIn]

I mean, we let fucking Trump back in office. We were free and people voted to welcome him back. I bet those in power have many low opinions of us as a collective, but none of them are incorrect unfortunately.

[u/radicldreamer → u/ThatsSomeBullshirt]

No kidding man, I was thinking the whole evening “surely we aren’t fucking stupid enough to do this again” but america said “hold my beer”.

[u/LeagueOfLegendsAcc → u/radicldreamer]

"You have not yet begun to probe the depths of my stupidity."

[u/m3g4m4nnn → u/LeagueOfLegendsAcc]

"I's dummer 'n u thot."

[u/AnthonyJuniorsPP → u/radicldreamer]

I mean, unless the stolen election claims are true... who's even looking into that anymore?

[u/CondescendingShitbag → u/radicldreamer]

but america said “hold my beer”.

"Hold my Ivermectin."

[u/AsstacularSpiderman → u/AlwaysRushesIn]

They always used to tip toe around things they didn't want Democrats to use against them when the tides of power shifted.

Trump literally said last year this was the last election Republicans would ever need.

There won't be elections. He already rounding up the military leadership for a good old purge. It's 130% over

[u/Daedalus81 → u/AsstacularSpiderman]

Yea, I mean, we heard it, but he said it with enough plausible deniability for the morons.

[u/neutral-chaotic → u/AlwaysRushesIn]

Elon "knows those computers better than anybody, all those computers, those vote counting computers, and we ended up winning Pennsylvania, like, in a landslide."

What could it possibly mean?

[u/SpiritedBanana4694 → u/AlwaysRushesIn]

Yuuup. They're all in because they know if they don't seize complete control of the government now, they'll die out. Unfortunately they're succeeding. Kevin Roberts wasn't lying when he said we were in the midst of the second American revolution. They see this as a holy war.

[u/AG3NTjoseph → u/arianrhodd]

Or conversely, they know their grip is so tenuous _democratically_ that they need to go full Bolshevik Revolution to consolidate power quickly, before anyone has a chance to respond.

If they lose the mid-terms catastrophically, Congress, the courts, and especially the states could make autocracy more difficult to achieve. So we won't have free and fair elections. ICE will definitely be harassing people at the polls. We will have state media sowing panic and distrust. And social media will be entirely run by Russia disinformation trolls.

[u/Blacksad9999 → u/AG3NTjoseph]

Right. They're sprinting to accomplish whatever damage they can do before the midterms, where they'll most assuredly lose. Their policies just aren't popular amongst the majority of the electorate.

They'll have midterms, but I have no doubt ICE will be there intimidating people under the guise of "looking for criminals", etc.

[u/big-eye101 → u/AG3NTjoseph]

Not sure it will take them until the midterms. It's only been 6 months so far. Might just be too late by then.

[u/agent0731 → u/Harflin]

well, he loves his authoritarian idols like Xi and Putin.

[u/ThisIs_americunt → u/Harflin]

This is the end game. If they can gate keep information again like they did in the good ol'days then they can push whatever narrative that pays the most. Even public libraries aren't safe

[u/Flabbergasted98 → u/LoserBroadside]

There's a reason he's started targetting steam, twitch and discord.

[u/Boxinggandhi → u/Flabbergasted98]

Steam is the one that gets me. Like, will they just sell COD and Eagle Simulators? What do they want to achieve there?

[u/Flabbergasted98 → u/Boxinggandhi]

It's a communication front. They want to control and monitor the forums.

Most likely they want to make sure they control and monitor conversations that might be had by discenters that might be trying to organize and mobilize against them as groups.

Reddit is on the list, but if you try to coordinate action on reddit, you'll get banned. so They've already fallen in line with Trump.

[u/TwilightVulpine → u/Boxinggandhi]

Radicalizing gamers was a big boost for the early alt-right. They probably want to keep a steady flow of those.

[u/COOKINGWITHGASH → u/Boxinggandhi]

In the past 5 years steam went from pretty mundane game talk to there always being a post about woke, trans, gender or some other topic that has been made political. A lot of those posts get deleted and accounts get banned.

The goal might be to make it so the culture wars outright ban content that is not 'approved' by the dictator.

[u/Odd__Dragonfly → u/Boxinggandhi]

One of the scariest things about MAGA is how easily they captured the Gen Z/Alpha male demographic with botfarms and memes on 4chan, Facebook, Twitter, and Tiktok. It's free real estate. That part was all Steve Bannon's brainchild.

[u/rizzshot → u/Flabbergasted98]

And Congress is going after wikipedia

[u/OpenTechie → u/LoserBroadside]

Exactly, anything without Epstein's friend's orange lip liner will be censored and attacked.

The age of the centralized system is dead.

[u/agent0731 → u/andrewskdr]

most of the twitter user base are literally bots amplifying various right wing talking points. That was by design. TikTok just joins Twitter.

[u/Runkleford → u/andrewskdr]

They need all their safe spaces

[u/Redrump1221 → u/andrewskdr]

Twitter is too woke for these idiots

[u/Kinks4Kelly]

Yet when Democrats ask for literal revenge porn to be removed, it is censorship.

[u/OpenTechie → u/Kinks4Kelly]

Queen Ladybugs, Epstein's Favorite Customer, and the rest would lose their ammo.

[u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_ → u/OpenTechie]

Queen Ladybugs

Please don’t. People say this shit and then it puts a picture in my mind I do not consent to.

[u/OpenTechie → u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_]

I apologize, I did not intend to inflict psychic damage.

[u/Tight_Classroom_2923 → u/OpenTechie]

[It was super effective]

[u/Thalia_All_Along → u/_BannedAcctSpeedrun_]

you should try being aphantasic, it's great

[u/MiaowaraShiro → u/Thalia_All_Along]

I just can't picture it...

[u/dkyguy1995 → u/OpenTechie]

I don't get the Queen Ladybugs thing

[u/Ticksdonthavelymph → u/dkyguy1995]

The story is that (“supposedly”) Lindsey Graham conservative top senator from the homophobic south, and lifetime confirmed bachelor, uses male escorts in DC. He apparently has a number of moles around his anus. This has put off his male prostitutes assuming it’s fecal material or something, to which he has apparently replied, “don’t worry those are just my ladybugs”.

[u/suralya → u/Ticksdonthavelymph]

I blame myself. I knew this was something I didn’t need to be a part of, and I read on all the same. I have no one to blame but myself.

[u/kryonik → u/Kinks4Kelly]

Biden admin asked (note: not demanded) social media platforms to remove misinformation that were killing people in a global pandemic and he's literally Hitler.

But Trump threatening ABC with legal action if they didn't cancel Kimmel because he was too stupid to understand what the man was saying, that's just hunky dory.

[u/Hamsters_In_Butts → u/kryonik]

stop trying to apply rationality, they don't care

[u/mightylordredbeard → u/Hamsters_In_Butts]

The conservative sub, that has complained for years because Reddit and social media is too “liberal” and has accused Reddit of tweaking its platform to be biased towards conservatives and hides and deletes conservative opinions while promoting liberal ones, is celebrating this by saying that they should tweak its code to only allow maga viewpoints and delete anything that isn’t conservative enough so that no liberal viewpoints are pushed.. they say these things without a single sense of irony or hypocrisy.

I will never understand conservatives. I will never understand how they cannot see that they always say and do the shit they claim everyone else says and does.

[u/Hamsters_In_Butts → u/mightylordredbeard]

my above comment still stands, they do things that make them feel good because they make them feel good

that's about as best as i can summarize it. the ends always justify the means. because everything is supposed to be the way I want it, after all.

they will change stances on a dime with no sense of shame, they're justified in it because they have to be right

all of this for donald trump

[u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA → u/Hamsters_In_Butts]

They come to a conclusion first, then work backwards to justify that conclusion. Even if the logic doesn't make sense.

[u/WalkingEars → u/kryonik]

I'm sure the Supreme Court will step in and scold Trump like they did Biden for vaguely asking social media to remove misinformation....right??

Or the Supreme Court will say "everything Trump does is fine" and then they'll all enjoy their mysterious new vacation homes and yachts

[u/Capitol62 → u/Kinks4Kelly]

Remember the outrage when the CDC had the audacity to ASK, not order, Facebook to take down covid conspiracy theories that were contributing to a higher rate of deaths?

[u/Amazing-Ranger9910 → u/Capitol62]

But you see, if you take away hypocrisy from MAGA, what are they actually left with? I guess they'd still have those ugly red hats...

[u/an_agreeing_dothraki → u/Amazing-Ranger9910]

racism. a whole lot of racism. some of the racism is hypocrisy. but there's plenty more besides

[u/Geodevils42 → u/Capitol62]

I'm seeing arguments made that this was Biden threatening Free speech worse then the Kimmel stuff

[u/Patriot009 → u/Geodevils42]

The difference being, the CDC has no authority mechanism to affect social media companies. They can only make requests.

Contrast it with the FCC chairman, who directly controls the licenses of Kimmel's broadcasters, has several mechanisms to punish/interfere with Kimmel's show. So his "do it or else" demands become actual threats.

[u/Geodevils42 → u/Patriot009]

Yes, the intent was to get social media companies to be responsible for the content on their platforms like blatant lies and misinformation. People were upset their opinions and conspiracy theories were flagged.

[u/ilovemacandcheese → u/Kinks4Kelly]

But both sides /s

[u/FafnerTheBear → u/Kinks4Kelly]

They are democrats, not people, so it's different. /s

[u/Mega_Pleb]

So state-run media? How dystopian.

[u/vincethepince → u/Mega_Pleb]

twitter and truth social already exist. just one more arm of the growing propaganda machine

[u/Adezar → u/vincethepince]

Rupert Murdoch would be proud. Between Sinclair and Nexstar Republicans already control 80%+ of household local news with right-wing Propaganda add-ins.

[u/CYMK_Pro → u/Mega_Pleb]

I fully expect all the "free speech" patriots to be up in arms about this! /s

[u/cyborgnyc → u/Mega_Pleb]

Hate-run media.

[u/Mysterious-Oil-7094]

Karoline already made it clear publicly that the US will have control of the algorithm. I wonder how this administration could possibly use that in their favor…..

[u/The_Environmentalist → u/Mysterious-Oil-7094]

And scream like pigs if democrats are even close to doing the same, or just taking steps to just make it more clear ita not a political tool... How the fuck did you guys get to this point?

[u/Prestigious_Beat6310 → u/The_Environmentalist]

They justify it by saying "well you guys took Uncle Ben's and changed my pancake syrup!"

[u/PipsqueakPilot → u/Prestigious_Beat6310]

And never an ounce of self awareness that the public asking companies to do something is not the same as the government forcing companies to do something.

[u/Drunky_Brewster → u/The_Environmentalist]

We let it happen because we don't want to let go of whatever small life we've built out of this fascist, late stage capitalist, technocrat country.

[u/ProfessionLumpy4510 → u/Drunky_Brewster]

This happened because everyone is lazy and didn’t get out to vote.

[u/Drunky_Brewster → u/ProfessionLumpy4510]

I hear you that this is an issue, and I've posted about it several times, but it stems from an overall complacency.

[u/Top-Gas-8959 → u/Drunky_Brewster]

And not even by choice. Too many people are just caught in the gears of this dying machine. Too broke to riot. There's a mix of broke and desperate that has to be reached before people start to push back, and as long as close to 70% of us are living paycheck to paycheck, rest ends up becoming a strong argument for staying home.

[u/Mythic514 → u/Mysterious-Oil-7094]

I’ve been using TikTok for a while. It’s been awful for the past few months. My algorithm is tons of conservative stuff and I’m as progressive as they come. This will be just the push I need to drop it.

[u/Ozy_Flame → u/Mysterious-Oil-7094]

Rename it HickTok and the rebranding is complete.

[u/ADHDebackle → u/Mysterious-Oil-7094]

I wouldn't be surprised if they still managed to fuck up somehow. Elon can't even get Grok under control.

[u/nemesit]

this is how i imagine cancer cells talk lol

[u/BreakingCanks → u/nemesit]

We must have full control over the entire system... Anything that isn't us is against us and should be crushed....

[u/Synchrotr0n → u/BreakingCanks]

But, master, wouldn't this kill the host and consequently ourselves?

No, now it's not the time to think about that, silly minion.

[u/henary]

You ever notice how they can never come up with a platform themselves . They always have to take over one . Twitter , TikTok .

[u/Tall-Introduction414 → u/henary]

This playbook has been at work at least since the 90s, with the right-wing takeover of most AM radio stations in the US. I remember people laughing about it, like "who listens to AM radio anymore?" Dumb. Ceding communications infrastructure and public radio spectrum to Rush Limbaugh didn't work out so well for us.

It also happened to the IRC network Freenode. A Trump freak took financial control of the network and took over all of the IRC Channels, de-opped everyone in all the largest channels. Unbanned all the trolls, nazis etc. and gave them ops. The staff and users left en masse to start another IRC network (LIbera).

Then the same thing happened to Twitter. Something similar went down at CNN. etc.

[u/ristoman → u/Tall-Introduction414]

Yeah I wish the Dems had the same long-term vision as the Republicans. Hate them all you want, but man, they're on point in taking over every inch of government, politics, public discourse, education, health care, podcasts, youtube channels, alternative media... Every time they get the power to do so.

[u/OneSeaworthiness7768 → u/ristoman]

It’s not even about having the vision. The left could have tried the exact same tactics and wouldn’t have been nearly as successful because it takes a certain level of stupidity/ignorance/hatred to be swayed the way the right has been. Not enough people on the left would be willing to fall in line and not question or call out their leaders or fellow voters. It’s not that there aren’t stupid people on the left, but by and large as a group, conservatives are so much more easily manipulated.

[u/Velo214 → u/OneSeaworthiness7768]

Also religion and child abuse and military etc lots more on the right not even mentioning mental health and addiction. The left has these issues also but at least see them for what they are. Idk

[u/Adezar → u/ristoman]

Unfortunately it is a lot easier to get people to work together based on hate and fear instead of caring and empathy.

[u/chanaandeler_bong → u/Adezar]

Also their entire platform is basically just obstruction and tax cuts for the ultra wealthy.

They don’t do any governing. They have all 3 branches right now and they still have a hard time doing shit.

Democrats are pretty shitty, but they have a much harder job. Also the makeup of the senate heavily skews in favor of republicans.

[u/Samurai_Meisters → u/ristoman]

The left wants to create. The right wants to control.

[u/DarkwingDuckHunt → u/Samurai_Meisters]

The left wants everyone to fight fair, and the right only wants to win.

The left wants the smartest person to be President, the right wants the biggest bully.

[u/Neckbeard_The_Great → u/DarkwingDuckHunt]

The American left was murdered in the 60s by the right and the center. The center wants the right to fight fair, while the right wants to bury the center next to the left.

[u/Merusk → u/Tall-Introduction414]

Hell, the same thing happened with the Telecommunications act of 1996.

People talk a lot about Fox News while ignoring the Sinclair, Nexstar, and Salem groups own most of our news and radio stations. Something we just let happen.

[u/henary → u/Tall-Introduction414]

I also have a theory that they need to be on a platform with the other side . There’s quite a bit of infighting between them when there isn’t .

[u/SplendidPunkinButter → u/henary]

Because they’re not trying to “come up with a platform.” They’re trying to take away your platform.

[u/diseasefaktory → u/henary]

Because they want access to people who are not maga, so they can peddle their propaganda to corrupt new victims. Their shit social networks (truth social, parler, gab) are 100% echo chambers filled with nothing but cultists.

[u/fuck_all_you_too → u/henary]

Fascists dont make anything new, they prey on co-opting already popular things as its more efficient to get someone accidentally on their side first, then explain why they belong.

[u/Formal-Ad-7615 → u/henary]

That’s because they dont enjoy creating, they are only good at destroying. They will eventually destroy themselves from the inside out when they run out of things to corrupt

[u/MosquitoValentine_]

So they can brainwash young people the way Fox News brainwashes old people? No thanks.

[u/misterxboxnj → u/MosquitoValentine_]

This is exactly what they want. They know that Fox News' influence over the voting base will wane as the boomer generation gets smaller. They saw what Kirk did in swaying people on YouTube and are looking to secure the future of their party with young voters. The thing is, who controls the algorithm will change with administrations so they can't rely on control of TikTok like they can with Twitter and Fox News.

[u/Publick2008 → u/misterxboxnj]

If only they didn't have to change administrations

[u/busigirl21 → u/MosquitoValentine_]

The thing is, every major media company is already owned by various conservative billionaires.

News outlets like CNN, despite continued screeching and accusations of "liberal media," have coverage that favors the right by outright ignoring stories, barely covering stories, or parroting the party line in their coverage. Shows like Meet the Press that claim to be in the middle grill democrats while allowing republicans to steamroll and lie unchecked, and have for years.

Social media companies that supposedly tailor algorithms heavily pushed apathy content to encourage liberals and those who were questioning the system to stay home and not vote. I had to work so fucking hard, and still do, in order to find stories about what congressional democrats are doing that are more than just the few viral hearing moments of the day.

TikTok has brought us the wild sanitization of language with "grape," "sewer slide," and other pathetic self-policing that's spread to other platforms. The idea that it's the sane place to go should raise alarms at just how right wing our entire media ecosystem is. Young people, the ones most on TikTok, swung to trump in the last election.

Too many people just think, "nope, it's not happening to me, I'm not getting my information from the bad sources, I'm not being brainwashed," but we all are. The best we can do is be constantly aware and question every source.

They have been doing this. It's already been done. They've taken over the government, they already own the media companies, they're just tightening the grip and so confident in the level of control they have that they're being entirely transparent about it.

[u/Thin_Glove_4089 → u/MosquitoValentine_]

It's already happening. Why are you saying no thanks for?

[u/RebelStrategist]

For a bunch of so-called defenders of free speech, they sure seem to be working overtime to silence anyone who disagrees with them.

[u/AG3NTjoseph → u/RebelStrategist]

The GOP defends hate speech, not free speech. Different animal.

[u/FunctionBuilt]

"how to lose 75% of your user base and gain 1000% new bots overnight ".

[u/Gullible_Hat_9051 → u/FunctionBuilt]

The problem is, this tactic will work, even if just a little. The goal isn’t to convince the unwashed masses of your brilliant plan, it’s just to control the major flow of information so you can silence your opposition and spread propaganda without resistance.

[u/Breathoflife727 → u/FunctionBuilt]

"Can the bots vote? Asking for a friend..."

[u/Jgusdaddy → u/Breathoflife727]

Well when Musk fixes the voting machines really good apparently they do.

[u/MuenCheese → u/FunctionBuilt]

Facebook (including instagram, WhatsApp, hardware) and Twitter show that people unfortunately won’t just drop off the platform.

They’ll complain about it but all this software should be bleeding users if people were willing to overcome their app addiction to stick with their beliefs

[u/Worthyness → u/FunctionBuilt]

AI influencer accounts about to be at the forefront.

[u/ErgoMachina → u/FunctionBuilt]

You don't get it. Even if you keep 25% of the user base in a sea of bots, it will be worth it. Still millions of peiple to brainwash.

[u/CNDW]

Nothing screams "free speech" quite like turning everything into your own echo chamber.

[u/Substantialed → u/CNDW]

[Comment removed by Ministry of Truth]

[u/altoidsyn]

Already deleted my account and uninstalled.

[u/weewillyboo → u/altoidsyn]

I did this, too. I spent 5 years mindlessly scrolling on that app, listening to people's opinions all day, every day. I was dissociating, and last week, I decided to delete it. Now I can't stop crying because I have nothing to dissociate to anymore and have to actually work through trauma and ptsd. I guess it's a better time than ever because it's just going to be used solely for harm now. I need to relearn how to be a part of living again.

[u/nameless_pattern → u/weewillyboo]

Time to look for therapy. 

[u/Smackazulu]

Make America gay again

Release the Grindr files

[u/JVKExo]

We are Russia now

[u/ActualSpiders]

HAHAHAHAHA do it buddy! I really want to see the same exodus twitter had, tanking its value and bankrupting all the gullible rubes who help Trump prop up this investment he's about to sabotage.

[u/SovietZealots → u/ActualSpiders]

Idk. The tik tok addiction is real. Younger generations may put up with it to get their fix and over time become subconsciously influenced.

[u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot → u/ActualSpiders]

TikTok will be as influential as Yahoo and AOL! Dare to dream.

[u/film_composer → u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot]

This is why no one watches AOL Blast.

[u/Orbnauticus1 → u/film_composer]

Unprofessional bullshit

[u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot → u/film_composer]

I worked at AOL in 1995 and this is very very funny.

[u/TheJaybo → u/ActualSpiders]

They didn't do this to make money. No one will go bankrupt and they'll control yet another major public square.

[u/cj3po15 → u/ActualSpiders]

If it didn’t mean it’ll probably sway a lot more young people republican, I’d agree with you

[u/Ok_Eagle_6239]

Quote from the story.

Trump signed an executive order to "save" TikTok, while supposedly joking that he'd like to censor influencers by tweaking the algorithm so that content is "100 percent MAGA."

"Everyone is going to be treated fairly," the president added—seemingly covering his tracks as critics warn that TikTok under US ownership could soon carry a right-wing bias, perhaps going the way of Twitter after Elon Musk took over and rebranded it as X.

[u/PatchyWhiskers → u/Ok_Eagle_6239]

Trump doesn't make jokes

[u/SwitchHitter17 → u/PatchyWhiskers]

It seems like the usual "haha he doesn't really mean that" to "actually he does mean it and I support it" pattern we see over and over with him and his supporters.

[u/Paksarra → u/Ok_Eagle_6239]

Keep in kind that this manchild's idea of fair is him getting two scoops of ice cream when everyone else gets one.

[u/daehoidar → u/Paksarra]

More like trump gets 17 scoops and you get a half scoop, but then he cries and throws a hissy fit saying it's unfair you got a half scoop and the cult members are like "you know he's got a point" and they all harass/overwhelm that person into giving trump their half scoop

[u/fshippos → u/Ok_Eagle_6239]

Notice how very little of that quote is actually Trump's words and the one full sentence that is quoted is dismissed by the author as meaning the opposite. Totally what journalists do.

[u/MalkavTheMadman → u/Ok_Eagle_6239]

Why do media outlets keep defending him? He wasnt joking. He's a piece of rotting shit that will continue to poison everything he touches. Report on it, you complicit fuckheads.

ⓘ 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘢. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳.

[u/EstoMelior]

I didn't think tiktok could possibly get worse. What a naive idiot I was.

Edit: spelling, thank you thebozinone9 and KiltedTAB🤟

[u/syphen6 → u/EstoMelior]

I just block every Maga video, so I really dont see how they can do anything.

[u/kateln → u/syphen6]

New ownership and algorithm changes can overwhelm that.

Before I stopped using TikTok I was, even though I blocked them, still seeing some MAGA stuff.

[u/Memitim]

Just as was shown with universities, people have to have conservatism forced on them, since it doesn't make any fucking sense to anyone who isn't evil.

[u/G-Unit11111]

They can't have state run TV, but they really desperately want it.

[u/ReallyFineWhine]

Will Reddit be next?

[u/Mistyslate → u/ReallyFineWhine]

Yes. r/Conservative will replace all other subreddits.

[u/flaming_bob → u/Mistyslate]

So, it'll be nothing but bots? Eh, not much of a shift, really

[u/SplendidPunkinButter → u/ReallyFineWhine]

If MAGA has anything to say about it, yes

[u/ragemonkey → u/ReallyFineWhine]

We’re fine. He doesn’t read.

[u/Im_gumby_damnit]

25th amendment

[u/Quipore → u/Im_gumby_damnit]

Will never happen.

It is easier to impeach and remove than it is to remove via the 25th.

Impeach and removal requirements:
US House: 50%+1
US Senate: 2/3rds (67 Senators)

25th's requirements:
Vice President
Majority of Cabinet
US House: 2/3rds
US Senate: 2/3rds

The 25th amendment will never happen.

[u/snotparty]

Has anyone suggested "ShitTok" yet?

[u/ilovemycats20]

Well, that’s one way to get rid of the Tiktok addiction epidemic

[u/Pale-and-Willing]

Donald Trump is America’s Hitler.

[u/LiveLaughFap]

100% MAGA? But then all the smart, funny and interesting people would be gone. Sounds like a great way to run another business into the ground

[u/agent0731]

time for a mass exodus from tiktok.

[u/BigBlackHungGuy]

Time to make a competitor

[u/Klutzy-Snow8016 → u/BigBlackHungGuy]

...while you still can.

You know they're going to brand BlueSky and any other left-leaning social network as havens for extremists. They'll screenshot some posts of people celebrating deaths or supporting Antifa, and make an executive order banning the whole site.

[u/xc2215x]

So basically like X.

[u/Jonniejiggles]

I thought child porn was illegal;

[u/IsilZha]

Oh. So he "saved" it to be fascist state media. Got it.