Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: TikTok ban breakdown, Meta data transfer conspiracy theories & the political motivations behind TikTok going dark

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MINI TECH SCROLL: TikTok ban breakdown, Meta data transfer conspiracy theories & the political motivations behind TikTok going dark · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle and I am
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  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
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  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  To start off, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to
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  everyone who liked last week's episode and everyone who left a
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  comment. You were all so, so kind,
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  welcoming and validating. I really appreciated it and
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  honestly could not have hoped for a better reaction.
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  Although a few of you did mention that my mic may have
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  been too close to my face, so I've adjusted that this week and
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  please let me know if the sound quality is any better or worse.
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  That definitely did not go unnoticed.
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  So thank you again. And if you are interested in
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  subscribing, it is always LinkedIn, the description of
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  each episode. Anyway, before we get into this
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  week's story, I just wanted to say Please remember to rate,
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  review, and subscribe to Infinite Scroll.
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  Absolutely anything will be appreciated.
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  So this week we are doing things a little bit differently.
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  Given that the TikTok ban in the US has literally taken over the
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  news cycle, we thought I should just do a recap on everything
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  that has happened in the past week.
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  I am sure many of you have been following along as the news
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  broke, but I thought I would just recap everything to make
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  sure that everyone is up to date.
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  As we all know at this point, TikTok is facing a nationwide
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  ban in the US after a bill was signed into law last year which
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  required Byte dance, Tik Tok's Chinese owned parent company, to
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  divest from TikTok or face a ban.
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  The deadline for the sale was January 19th, so we have
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  obviously just passed that. The last time I reported on the
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  TikTok ban, the Supreme Court hadn't issued an opinion yet.
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  So the first big piece of news that broke was that the US
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  Supreme Court upheld the ban. The opinion was issued on
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  January 17th, and in it the justices acknowledged that
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  TikTok quote offers a distinct and expansive outlet for
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  expression, means of engagement and source of community.
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  But ultimately they concluded that quote, Congress has
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  determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well
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  supported national security concerns regarding Tik Tok's
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  data collection practices and relationship with a foreign
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  adversary. With that, things weren't
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  looking too great for TikTok and things honestly became even more
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  confusing when reports started circulating that TikTok would
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  simply be quote going dark on January 19th.
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  This was very different to what was previously being reported
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  because before this, it was understood that US users would
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  be able to continue using the app, but access would become
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  increasingly difficult as the platform rolled out updates
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  because it would be taken off the App Store.
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  And according to reports, the decision to go down was made
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  voluntarily by TikTok. And this I thought was very
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  interesting because the fact that TikTok went dark by its own
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  volition actually relates to some interesting reporting that
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  I've seen by Ryan Broderick, who is a favorite here on mini
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  Scroll for sure in the garbage day newsletter.
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  He made the point that, quote, TikTok doesn't need America and
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  how using the American people as a bargaining chip wasn't
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  necessarily the smartest decision.
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  I'll just read a quick quote because I think it really
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  exemplifies his point. American tech businesses know
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  they're out of step with China. They know they're losing ground
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  around the world to apps like TikTok, Team Machine, Cap Cut,
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  and Aliexpress. And American lawmakers naively
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  believe that the American market, the American audience is
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  valuable enough to be used as a bargaining chip.
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  And they will busy themselves with games of regulatory whack a
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  mole while China continues to conquer the rest of the world.
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  With that being said, it did seem like lawmakers kind of
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  caught on in the last moment because last week it did start
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  to be reported that both the Biden administration and Trump's
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  team were working to find ways to stop the ban.
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  And with this, officials from the Biden administration and
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  ultimately shared that they would leave the decision around
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  the future of the ban to the Trump administration, which
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  totally makes sense considering the timing of it all.
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  I think that now brings us to the ill-fated evening of January
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  18th, US time when TikTok officially started going dark
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  and users lost access. So Lauren touched on this a
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  little bit on Monday's mini scroll episode.
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  But users started getting a pop up on the app and the app was no
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  longer available on the app stores.
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  According to reports the pop up read a law banning TikTok has
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  been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you
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  can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President
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  Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to
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  reinstate TikTok once he takes office.
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  Please stay tuned. I will just say that this note
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  was very interesting, especially in the way that it named
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  President Trump. While that did put onus on Trump
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  to do things, it did also position him as the good guy,
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  which many social media users said felt like some form of
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  modern propaganda. Anyway, the TikTok ban obviously
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  didn't last for very long because just 12 hours later, it
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  was brought back online after Trump said he would issue an
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  executive order following his inauguration.
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  In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, Trump
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  said, quote, I will issue an executive order on Monday to
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  extend the period of time before the law's prohibition take
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  effect. I would like the United States
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  to have a 50% ownership in a joint venture.
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  And a few hours later, TikTok announced that it was quote, in
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  the process of restoring service.
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  And the platform did express its gratitude to Trump for providing
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  clarity and assurance to service providers that they will not
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  face any penalties if TikTok is active.
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  Obviously, there's been a lot of talk as to why TikTok went dark
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  if it was just going to come back on hours later.
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  And there are a couple of key theories.
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  I thought I would just outline them quickly here.
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  The first one that I've seen a lot of is that it was a Meta
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  data transfer. So Meta had patches, TikTok and
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  all the data was being transferred over to new
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  services. Hank Green made a really
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  interesting video on this where he basically said that there is
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  no way that this is the case You're.
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  Not going to keep using that. Meta will never buy TikTok.
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  Meta has not bought TikTok. They may be now having gotten
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  signals from the Trump administration that it would be
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  potentially something that the Department of Justice and the
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  Federal Trade Commission and Cepheus would all allow.
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  But any major merger in the US requires a bunch of regulatory
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  filings that are not allowed to be.
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  Kept secret. The next theory I have seen was
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  that this was all a ploy by Trump for popularity.
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  And the last theory I saw was TikTok simply playing hardball,
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  which I can see that. But it also should be noted, in
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  the lead up to TikTok going dark, TikTok chief Shochu was
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  becoming increasingly supportive of Trump, publicly praising him
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  and expressing his excitement to work together.
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  Hi everyone. It's show here.
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  On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the
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  country, I want to thank President Trump for his
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  commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps
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  TikTok available in the United States.
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  I would just like to add that this really is a classic
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  strategy on how to get on Trump's good side.
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  When Trump first entered office, we saw world leaders from
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  absolutely everywhere using flattery, gifts and ceremonies
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  to build a relationship with Trump.
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  So appealing to Trump's ego is not exactly new.
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  But I don't really know if we've seen it on this scale in the
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  tech world. I mean, we've seen it a little
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  bit with Elon Musk and maybe with Mark Zuckerberg changing
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  Mehta's moderation platforms to appeal to Trump's politics, but
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  I don't think we've seen it quite so openly like this.
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  With that being said, it wasn't really a surprise to anyone when
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  Shochu was in attendance at the inauguration along with many
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  other tech figures, all of which were sitting front row.
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  Even though appealing to Trump's ego might have been a gamble, it
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  did pay off because he did sign an executive order to pause the
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  US ban yesterday. The order instructed Trump's
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  attorney general not to take any action or enforce the law
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  mandating a sale or closure of TikTok in the US for a period of
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  75 days. With Trump officially issuing
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  the executive order, many social media users are speculating why
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  Donald Trump has decided to save the platform after essentially
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  starting a war on TikTok in 2020.
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  So I thought it would be interesting to breakdown some of
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  these theories. I would just like to preface
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  that I don't think one of these theories is the reason.
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  It could be an amalgamation of all of them, but I definitely
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  think it's an interesting point of discussion.
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  The first theory that I've been seeing making its way around
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  social media is that Trump's decision to become an ally to
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  TikTok and quote UN quote, save the platform is a way for him to
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  get all social media platforms aligned politically with his
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  agenda. We have seen an embrace of alt
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  right slash more conservative ideologies on Meta X and even
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  YouTube in recent years. But to many, TikTok was one of
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  the last major social media platforms for progressive groups
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  to organize and discuss various political issues.
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  And there is data to support this claim.
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  According to a report released by the Pew Research Center
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  towards the end of last year, which examined news influences.
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  The researchers found that TikTok is the only platform
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  where left-leaning news influences outnumber right
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  leaning ones. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio
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  Cortez actually made a really interesting TikTok about this
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  which made a similar point. Now, I want you all to put all
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  the pieces together because what this effectively means is that
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  every social media platform, mass social media platform in
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  the United States has been taken over by the right wing, with the
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  exception of blue sky. But blue sky still very small.
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  Elon Musk took over Twitter and there's open reporting.
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  It's pretty obvious as well that they have manipulated the
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  algorithms. They've artificially manipulated
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  the algorithms to boost right wing content.
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  TikTok is now saying, hey, we are agreeing we will use our
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  push notification system for all 170 million American users to
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  promote Donald Trump. Just understand that government
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  announcements like this with companies, they never name
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  politicians. They will usually name law or
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  policy. While TikTok has definitely
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  proven to be a powerful place for progressive ideology to
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  spread and organizing around certain social movements, for
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  example Black Lives Matter, I don't think we can overestimate
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  the pace at which right wing ideals can also spread on the
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  platform. I mean last year when Trump was
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  campaigning, he quickly became a success on the platform and we
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  have seen the rise of more conservative ideology entering
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  the mainstream through trends like trad wives and looks
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  maxing. As for weather, TikTok is
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  heading down this path with the Trump presidency.
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  I will say that many TikTok users in the US have come
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  forward claiming that their algorithm seems a little bit
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  different and that the search function is different in the
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  United States compared to other regions since TikTok came back
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  online. But at this time, there is no
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  official evidence as to why that would be the case.
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  Another interesting theory as to why Trump would save TikTok is
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  economic impact. I have seen this floating
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  around. I kind of buy it less, but I do
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  think it is an interesting point.
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  While Trump is no expert on the creator economy, he did position
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  the economy and economic struggles at the center of his
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  campaign. And TikTok is definitely a huge
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  economic engine. According to economic advisory
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  firm Oxford Economics, TikTok contributed 24 billion USD to
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  the US GDP in 2020 free and supports over 200,000 American
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  jobs. With that being said, I could
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  see how that would be a cause for concern.
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  Those are the two major theories I feel like I've been seeing
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  floating around on social media as to why Trump is kind of
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  flip-flopped. I'd definitely be interested to
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  hear what you guys think, but I have a couple of other points
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  that I haven't really seen anyone else making as to why he
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  flip-flopped. I will preface that I feel like
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  I am taking a little bit more of like a political strategy angle
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  here, so please indulge me because I did do my degree in
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  politics and American Studies, so I feel like it is a really
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  coming out to play today. I think Trump's decision could
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  partly be about coming through on a campaign promise.
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  Trump is obviously extremely unorthodox, but one thing that
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  many experts have concluded about his political style is
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  that you can expect him to do or at least try to do what he
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  promises, for better or for worse.
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  Through his first time, it became clear that coming through
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  on campaign promises and appealing to his political base
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  and donors was very important to him because he would frequently
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  bring it up when he was talking about his achievements.
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  Towards the end of the campaign in 2024, he did start to talk
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  more and more about TikTok. For example, Trump in a
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  September post on truth Social said that he would, quote, save
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  TikTok if he got elected. Many experts did see this as a
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  late game appeal to young voters and Gen.
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  Z, and this definitely makes sense because Trump spent a
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  solid portion of his campaign attempting to court young men,
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  or should I say the bro vote, through appearing on certain
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  podcast streams and different YouTube channels.
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  And of course this did pay off because young men did turn out
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  for him in the end. On top of this, a major
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  Republican donor, Jeffrey Yass also has a 15% stake in Byte
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  Dance and his personal share is reportedly worth 21 billion.
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  So I can see why it would be to Trump's benefit to save TikTok.
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  With that being said though, it should be noted that Trump is in
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  a very different position to his previous time where coming
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  through on election promises cannot be used as political
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  capital in the same way because he can't run for re election.
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  But at the end of the day, if Trump sees himself as one thing,
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  it is not a politician, it is a deal maker and I think he would
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  absolutely love to be the man who saved TikTok when Congress
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  and his predecessor couldn't. With that, I think another
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  reason why Trump has decided to save TikTok is because he has a
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  tendency to undo anything associated with his predecessor.
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  We saw this in 2017. Where as soon as Trump got into
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  office he worked to undo Barack Obama's legacy, Biden came into
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  office doing the same thing to many Trump era developments.
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  And as we saw yesterday, Trump has done the same.
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  So I think the TikTok ban kind of falls into that category as
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  well. Even though Trump has issued the
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  executive order and is working to save TikTok, no one really
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  knows what will happen next. The executive order is a little
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  bit shaky according to experts, especially because this ban has
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  passed through Congress and was upheld by the Supreme Court.
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  With that being said, Tik Tok's longevity is definitely
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  questionable, and we can also see that through the actions of
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  some other social media giants. While the news cycle was flooded
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  with updates about the TikTok ban, Meta and X made some pretty
• 14:01
  interesting announcements. Meta announced a new app called
• 14:04
  Edit which is a clone of Cap Cut, which is obviously what
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  many people use to edit their TikTok videos.
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  So if TikTok is on the downfall or allegedly being purchased by
• 14:15
  Meta, it makes sense that they would have a Cap Cut equivalent.
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  On top of that, X announced that it is adding a video tab in the
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  platform's bottom bar for users in the US.
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  So it seems they might be vying for TikTok spot and it might
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  happen because who knows what's going to happen after these 75
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  days if the executive order holds up.
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  I feel like no one knows and everyone is just extremely
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  confused about what is going to happen next.
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  Because if TikTok does get banned eventually in the US,
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  will the platform try to break into other markets?
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  Will Australia get the creator fund?
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  Will brands continue using TikTok to expand into other
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  markets? I am just so intrigued and I
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  have no idea. So I'm sorry to not be able to
• 14:52
  give you a conclusion, but I will definitely be watching
• 14:55
  closely with any updates ready to deliver to mini scroll.
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  Anyway, that is everything from me today.
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  I hope you enjoyed this little deep dive into the TikTok ban.
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  I am hopeful that next week we will have other things to talk
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  about but I will see you next Wednesday.
• 15:10
  Thanks. Bye.