I don’t believe for a second people use TikTok because they have objections to the data collecting practices of Reels or whatever. They do it because it managed to be super addictive, and got the network effect going before others could catch up.
In the beginning, sure. But all the TikTok users actively choosing Chinese alternatives would seem to disagree with that, now.
That is an interesting phenomenon. I suspect it’s just out of spite, because people not understanding the technology is almost like a new law of the internet, and that it’ll blow over eventually.
If it doesn’t, WTF, basically. People are already getting kicked off of Xiaohongshu for being openly gay.
I hate to link to Reddit (and I’m too old to know how to get to the original video), but this also seems pretty relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1i302rf/if_tiktok_being_banned_doesnt_radicalize_you_as/
Man, if any of that youth passion had shown up at the polls we (yes, including us in the rest of the world) wouldn’t have this problem in the first place. Somehow, the fervour never translates away from from the soft keyboard, though - probably because it’s mostly fake. God, we’re a D-tier species.