More screaming into the void

[dolorosa_12]

I wasn't going to post about the brief banning of TikTok in the US, because I don't use TikTok, don't live in the United States, and see no situation that would cause either of these things to change.

But then the discourse and hot takes in response to the ban started rolling in, and they were, quite honestly, almost uniformly enraging — and to make matters worse, were inadvertently spreading unbelievably appalling misinformation — and I stewed in irritation for several days before giving in to the inevitable urge to vent.

I observed the vast majority of these inane reponses elsewhere online, although there were little pockets on Dreamwidth, but as always, my standard dislaimer applies: if you didn't perpetuate this behaviour, I'm not complaining about you.


I've just spent two days watching people — including many people who think of themselves as activists, politically engaged, and with decent critical thinking and media literacy skills — get played like a violin. The absurd responses I observed being spread around virally include:

The US government wanted to ban TikTok because they didn't want their citizens finding out about socialised healthcare in China (this, shared uncritically by many of the aforementioned people, including non-Americans living in countries with socialised healthcare, none of whom stopped to pause and ask two questions: is China the only country in the world with socialised healthcare? and was TikTok the only way that Americans might learn of the existence thereof?)

Whataboutery comparing the iniquities of the US with the iniquities of the Chinese state, the latter of which were then handwaved away

Conspiratorial thinking, which cast TikTok's algorithm as some kind of paradise for alternative viewpoints and perspectives, 'the one big social media platform where the US government can't control what you see' (with a complete failure to understand that any algorithmic feed is controlling what you see, and none of this is going to help expose you to a variety of perspectives, US government-approved or otherwise)

The disinformation being deliberately spread by TikTok itself, implying the ban was the work of the outgoing administration, and that Trump was working with them to get it lifted (the timeline of all this makes plain the blatant manipulation going on: the app was blocked in the US — with this message about Trump — on 18th January, and the app appears to have been restored to US users on 19th January; Trump was not in office on 19th January and was only inaugurated today, 20th January), again being shared utterly uncritically by myriad people who should have known better — or at least been able to look at a calendar

Again, as I say, I only witnessed the fringes of this on Dreamwidth, tangentially, but I had to go on an unfollowing spree elsewhere online: any time I saw any of this utter bullshit being spread, I unfollowed without a single regret. I used to have a three strikes and you're out policy when it came to social media mis- and disinformation, but one of my resolutions for this year was to move to a zero tolerance policy in this regard. I don't think most people I observe sharing this kind of stuff are doing it deliberately to deceive or manipulate, but their behaviour is the equivalent of unintentionally spreading a physical virus through careless public health choices, and I have very little tolerance for it these days.

Before I move on to this final paragraph, I want to emphasise again that I'm complaining about behaviour I've mostly witnessed elsewhere — the 'you' is a general you — and my complaints are very, very, very much not directed at anyone likely to be reading my journal!

People on the progressive side of the political spectrum are very quick to point and sneer and laugh at the kind of disinformation that goes viral on the right: who could be so stupid as to think that there is a secret sex trafficking ring in the basement of a Washington DC pizza restaurant, or that Microsoft is installing microchips in people who receive Covid vaccines, and so on. But those disinfo campaigns are not aimed at us, and are not designed to be persuasive to us. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of disinformation targeted at the left — especially the US left — designed to go viral, and designed to validate beliefs and values held by people on the left; for this reason, it's much less obvious, because superficially it confirms things that progressives already feel to be true or important. I've become better at recognising it over the years (there were at least two points last year where I'm pretty sure I could spot a critical mass of people unintentionally spreading material that I think was part of deliberate, targeted, malicious campaigns), and I strongly believe that people on my side of the political spectrum need to take it much more seriously. The first step is to behave more responsibly when a post which seems to validate one's understanding of an issue (or of the world) floats up into one's social media feed. The urge to share is often very great, and the mechanism for sharing is so (in my opinion, too) easy: just the click of a button. As I have said many, many times before, if you don't have time to think more deeply about the content of the post and properly evaluate its veracity, you don't actually have the time to share it.

Two things can be true at once: the US TikTok 'ban' was an act of hypocrisy, enacted for disingenous reasons, and the way the 'ban' played out these past few days was a piece of deceptive political theatre, sparking a whole lot of discourse that in my opinion seemed deliberately designed to manipulate. (And, as a final note — use whatever apps you want, but handwaving the dangers of data harvesting is not a good look, particularly for people involved in political activism, and the best solution is to regulate it, give users robust and transparent opt-out options as the default, and then block platforms that don't comply.)

But all this feels like shouting into the wind.

Comments

[ambyr]

I have also been very dismayed at some of what I've seen in response to the TikTok ban.

Tangentially, I was a bit worried how my dad was going to handle it, because being a TikTok influencer has been a huge part of his life for the past five years, but I asked how he was feeling about the ban and he said "Relieved." Making a video a day is exhausting, who knew? He's ready to quit and move on whether or not TikTok comes back. I wonder how many other influencers feel that way.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, I had no idea that your dad was a TikTok influencer! I can well imagine that it's a thankless, exhausting kind of work, and I agree that he's probably not alone in feeling ready to move on.

Dismaying is the right word for those responses, that's for sure.

[ambyr]

It has been a source of continued bafflement to me! I mean I like my dad, don't get me wrong, I'm glad other people also like my dad, but hundreds of thousands of them? To the point where random strangers recognize and greet him in the street? How? Why? Social media is weird.

[lyr]

Certainly I get being concerned about the dangers of data harvesting by TikTok, though of course, as you point out, I really think we should be concerned abut that will ALL the platforms. TikTok's business practices are not appreciably different from most social media platforms, and I don't trust them with all that data either.

As a professional directly engaged with the rhetoric of disinformation, I can definitely support that one of the key principles of rhetoric is that it speaks to its target audience in a language they find most intelligible. Other audiences won't hear it as convincing, but will definitely hear disinformation made for them that way. One of the lessons I emphasize to my students is that disinformation and conspiratorial thinking occur in all demographics; it's important to retain a sense of humility about this. No one is immune, though critical thinking and good information practices are the best protection.

[dolorosa_12]

I remember back when TikTok became a thing that privacy experts were saying that its data harvesting was particularly aggressive (essentially you consented to its access to all apps and content on your devices, with no easy way to opt out), which made it easy for me to give it a miss. But as you say, all major social media platforms are bad about this, and if I had my time over, I probably would not have signed up for any of them.

Your students are lucky to have you.

[edwardianspinsteraunt]

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of disinformation targeted at the left — especially the US left — designed to go viral, and designed to validate beliefs and values held by people on the left; for this reason, it's much less obvious, because superficially it confirms things that progressives already feel to be true or important. I've become better at recognising it over the years (there were at least two points last year where I'm pretty sure I could spot a critical mass of people unintentionally spreading material that I think was part of deliberate, targeted, malicious campaigns), and I strongly believe that people on my side of the political spectrum need to take it much more seriously.

This, yes, all of this! *screams in Ukrainian* I've had to stop lurking on/using Tumblr pretty much entirely owing to such disinformation campaigns, and the way they specifically targeted the Russia-Ukraine war: lots of whataboutism comparing Ukraine to other ongoing (at the time) conflicts, with the implication that Ukrainians have it easier than other suffering or oppressed groups (suffering is not a zero-sum competition! multiple things can be bad at once!), or posts outright stating that They only want you to care about Ukraine and are deliberately suppressing information about other wars/atrocities. To this day, I can't articulate how deeply hurtful it was to see that sort of demonstrably untrue rhetoric being perpetuated by progressive bloggers I trusted; it does feel like it left a physical wound.

But on the positive side, I've found I feel much happier and freer now that I'm no longer spending time in those spaces, so at least it left that net benefit?

[dolorosa_12]

I'd left Tumblr by 2022, but I saw all the same garbage on Twitter, and in some cases coming from actual (now former) friends on Facebook. At least four people I knew, including one fairly good friend, revealed themselves to be tankies, and spouted the most appallingly awful hot takes. (One former friend shared a post, which he clearly felt to be a clever 'gotcha,' in which it was argued that working as a propagandist for RT was functionally no different to working for state-funded broadcasters like the BBC.)

So yes, I'm unfortunately all too familiar with disinformation campaigns aimed at the left (although I'd argue that anyone who's taken in by them in this context can hardly be much of a leftist if they've allowed themselves to be persuaded that an imperialist war of annihilation is somehow striking a great blow for decolonisation and the end of superpower hegemony). I cannot imagine how awful it must have been to experience that as a Ukrainian, especially from people who felt like your natural political allies.

But on the positive side, I've found I feel much happier and freer now that I'm no longer spending time in those spaces, so at least it left that net benefit?

Yes indeed! (I also take great satisfaction in donating to the Ukrainian military every time I see that kind of whataboutery in the wild.)

[muccamukk]

If I thought banning tictok would improve media literacy, I'd be all for it, but alas...

[dolorosa_12]

Well, quite.

[nerakrose]

I've not seen any of this and now I'm relieved I haven't. I have seen posts debunking one or two of these points, but nobody actively sharing them. what I have seen are screenshots of americans and chinese people sharing photos of their pets with each other!

for some reason I thought the ban went on for longer (my brain wants it to have been 4 days). my sense of time seems to be truly shot...

[dolorosa_12]

I've seen the debunkings as well, but unfortunately I saw them after I saw a lot of the original idiotic hot takes that they were debunking. Really depressing stuff.

I heard about the cat pictures secondhand — it sounded kind of sweet!

[springheel_jack]

It does appear that Trump's intervention is what got the app back up, and it's certainly true that he wasn't president yet.

What it seems happened is that Tiktok, and the TechCo's hosting and distributing the app, who also face legal exposure, all took his word for it that he'd issue an executive order suspending implementation of the ban.

Which isn't in his legal power either, of course. Executive orders don't work that way.

Which means, as far as I can tell, that TikTok is currently operating in open defiance of the law.

Trump clearly told them that if they'd praise him and thank him, he wouldn't prosecute them, contrary to the will of Congress and in violation of a law upheld by the supreme court. It's all completely illegal, but nobody seems to care or even to have noticed.

The rule of law is clearly a dead letter in the US. The president's whim is more important.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, it's even worse than I thought.

TikTok's presentation of the whole situation still seems to me to be blatant disinformation.

[bethctg]

if you don't have time to think more deeply about the content of the post and properly evaluate its veracity, you don't actually have the time to share it.

I'm going to paint this on the side of my car. All of this is so bleak.

[dolorosa_12]

I've been saying this for years, ever since I discovered back in 2016 that a bunch of innocuous posts I'd reblogged on Tumblr (social justicey things on the most basic 'let's celebrate diversity' level, photosets of successful black American women athletes like Simone Biles and Serena Williams, etc) had originated from accounts associated with state-backed Russian disinformation campaigns. They'd been laying the groundwork to present themselves as progressive-minded Americans, and even though the stuff I'd shared from them was completely innocuous, it was tainted.

That moment was it, for me, and I approach online material — especially viral online material shared by strangers or originating from unfamiliar sources — with a lot of scepticism, especially if it confirms my own worldview. We can do a lot of damage with one 'share'/'retweet'/'reblog' button, and we should treat this with lot more responsibility.

[chestnut_pod]

Yes, I feel this post deeply. The true concerns that I feel about the TikTok ban involve the path it's surely going to cut through the legal system and what effect those cases will have on the already-weakened First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendment bases for the American right to privacy whether it wins or loses. Have I seen any arguments back and forth about that? No!

And yet, when a close friend said to me, "Truly this has altered my opinion of the US government beyond almost any political event in my lifetime," I was just like… what? This? None of the things with an immediate body count, but this?

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, yes, exactly!

And yet, when a close friend said to me, "Truly this has altered my opinion of the US government beyond almost any political event in my lifetime," I was just like… what? This? None of the things with an immediate body count, but this?

Wow. I would have been speechless.

There are moments that show people for what they are, and unfortunately this moment has revealed a lot of people in my broad online sphere to be much less savvy when it comes to media literacy than they like to present themselves as being.

[scintilla10]

if you don't have time to think more deeply about the content of the post and properly evaluate its veracity, you don't actually have the time to share it This is such a good reminder; I would love to see more people pause and think critically about information they just consumed (from any information source!). You're absolutely right that the most insidious pieces of mis/disinformation are the ones that seem to reinforce things we already believe or lean towards believing.

Thanks for your post <3

[dolorosa_12]

You're welcome. I'm glad you found it helpful.

[lirazel]

Yikes! Those are some...bad takes.

But those disinfo campaigns are not aimed at us, and are not designed to be persuasive to us. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of disinformation targeted at the left — especially the US left — designed to go viral, and designed to validate beliefs and values held by people on the left; for this reason, it's much less obvious, because superficially it confirms things that progressives already feel to be true or important.

Very true.

[dolorosa_12]

When I saw the one about TikTok apparently being Americans' only avenue for finding out about socialised healthcare, shared with apparent sincerity by several Facebook friends, I had to sit for a few minutes and stare at the wall, because I just could not believe they could be taken in by something like that.

I've been discussing disinformation campaigns aimed at progressives in another comment to edwardianspinsteraunt above; the specific thing we've identified is now really obvious to me whenever I see it. The other really recognisable one aimed at the left (especially at Americans) is one designed to demotivate people from voting: 'they're all the same, so why should I bother?' or 'this individual Democratic politician did something I disagree with (or the party isn't perfect on this issue), so why should I support them?' Obviously they hinge on real issues and real feelings that people care about, and this kind of sentiment can be genuine, but there are contexts in which I encounter it in the social media wild where it's really clear that it's intended as deliberate disinformation to drive a particular political outcome (apathy and low voter turnout). I'm now inclined to be very suspicious when I see this kind of thing being spread around, and to distrust the critical thinking skills of the person sharing it.

[charlottenewtons]

Unfortunately the past few years have shown me that online leftists can be just as reactionary and prone to conspiracy theories and spreading disinformation as the right.

[dolorosa_12]

Yes indeed. There are two specific leftist-targeted disinformation narratives that are really obvious to me whenever I see them, which I've been discussing above in comments with edwardianspinsteraunt and lirazel — and I'm sure there are many more examples.