Why I’m More Scared Of American Social Media Companies Than TikTok

l agree that TikTok poses a national security threat due to its ties to China. But let’s be real, the real threat to our democracy comes from the very platforms we use every day. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat are all guilty of election interference, censorship, and political targeting. They are controlled by Big Tech and its sinister partnership with the deep state and powerful corporations. This is a direct threat to our constitutional self-government via elected representatives.

Elon Musk’s explosive “Twitter Files” revealed how the FBI operates as a liaison between social media companies and federal agencies to control public discourse via unconstitutional censorship and political targeting. The federal government had a hand in everything from Twitter’s suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to its censorship of Covid information deviating from the Fauci narrative.

The deep state used Twitter (and undoubtedly other platforms) to interfere in the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. American conservatives were disproportionately targeted by Twitter’s shadowbanning regime. Nowadays, every other major social media platform has forfeited its role as a digital town square. There is no free flow of information. Instead, they are machines utilized by our overlords to control the narrative – politically and socially – in order to maintain an effectively one-party system.

Enter TikTok. Owned by the Chinese-run company ByteDance, TikTok has a massive active American user base of 150 million people and, most importantly, is not beholden to the American deep state. While it may pose a national security threat, it is not the real threat to our democracy. That title belongs to the very platforms we use every day. It’s time to wake up and realize that our freedom of speech and self-government are at stake. Don’t let Big Tech and the deep state control the narrative any longer.

Why Banning TikTok is a Bad Idea

It’s not often that Democrats and Republicans agree on anything, but when it comes to banning TikTok, they seem to be on the same page. However, the proposed RESTRICT Act, also known as “PATRIOT Act 2.0,” is a dangerous overreach that threatens our privacy and freedom of speech.

The Disinformation Fear Campaign

The RESTRICT Act is part of a larger “disinformation” fear campaign that seeks to give the government control over social media. Any information that challenges the status quo is labeled as “disinformation” and censored. This is a transparent attempt to regain control that the government lost with the rise of social media.

TikTok’s Unique Risks

It’s true that TikTok poses unique risks to the American public, including potential Chinese influence campaigns. However, American tech companies are just as capable of attacking free speech and censoring conservative voices. China and the US deep state have different political goals, but both are threats to our freedom.

The Dangers of Censorship

Censorship is a slippery slope that threatens our democracy. When the government controls what we can and cannot say, our credibility is threatened, and our freedom is at risk. We must resist the urge to ban TikTok and instead focus on protecting our privacy and freedom of speech.

• The RESTRICT Act would allow the government to ban social media platforms without oversight.
• The Act would give the government access to American users’ data and browsing histories.
• The Act could criminalize the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).

Let’s not give the government more power than it already has. We must protect our privacy and freedom of speech at all costs.

ct on libido was flagged as “false,” but on TikTok, the exact same video was left untouched.

The fact-checking regime, beholden to the federal government and mega-corporations such as Kellogg’s (owner of Corn Flakes) and the lucrative abortion industry, clearly doesn’t have control of TikTok. Every echelon of the federal government wants TikTok gone for the benefit of themselves and their donors, not the American people.

Of course, China is tolerant of conservative content not because it cares about free expression in America. It permits content deemed wrongthink by American Big Tech companies in order to sow discord and attract as many American users as possible for the sake of data collection. But we can acknowledge China’s bad intentions, while also acknowledging that the comparative freedom TikTok offers American users is a good thing. 

Free expression is our defense against despotism, which is becoming increasingly normalized in our country. Consider how the state pays disingenuous homage to the Constitution while deploying a Covid vaccine psy op on the American public, interfering in our elections, infiltrating Catholic Churches, labeling parents at school board meetings “domestic terrorists,” and creating a Communist-style social credit system. 

It has created a two-tier justice system where Christians are labeled “white supremacists,” pro-life activists have had their homes raided by federal agents, and peaceful Jan. 6 protesters are ruthlessly persecuted by state prosecutors and defamed during a congressional show trial. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter rioters and pro-abortion terrorists are routinely let off the hook. 

None of this is to draw a false equivalency between America and Communist China. The Chinese Communist regime is vastly more cruel and murderous toward its people than the U.S. government is to us. But the greater, more immediate threat to conservatives is our government, not China’s, and by annihilating an app willing to platform our ideas, conservatives are assisting in their own destruction. 

Banning TikTok, whether by the RESTRICT Act or by other means, sets the negative precedent that our government has the authority to swoop in and eliminate any apps — foreign and domestic — they deem “dangerous.” Do you know what country bans apps? China. As Benjamin Franklin said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

You pick your poison with social media apps. None of the major companies are genuinely fair platforms. Their algorithms and “content moderation” (aka censorship) are affected by unseen forces. Conservatives know, however, that American tech companies are controlled by the autocratic deep state and corporations that hate us. And while TikTok may answer to the CCP, conservatives enjoy a markedly freer user experience on the app.

Our day-to-day lives, laws, and elections are undeniably affected by the free flow of communication on social media. Without competing platforms such as TikTok, the information ecosystem is regulated solely by partisan Big Tech executives, corporations, and the U.S. government, and free speech in America’s digital public square dies.

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