Close Menu
    TikTok users “absolutely justified” for fearing MAGA makeover, experts say | TikTok’s tech issues abound as censorship fears drive users to delete app.
    Technology

    TikTok users “absolutely justified” for fearing MAGA makeover, experts say | TikTok’s tech issues abound as censorship fears drive users to delete app.


    TikTok users “absolutely justified” for fearing MAGA makeover, experts say | TikTok’s tech issues abound as censorship fears drive users to delete app.

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/tiktok-claimed-bugs-blocked-anti-ice-videos-epstein-mentions-experts-call-bs/

    View 42 Comments

    42 Comments

    2. Fitherwinkle on

      Hell the second they put that full screen boot licking “Thank You President Trump” message on there last year I deleted that shit so fucking fast and never went back. Then I figured I might as well keep going and deleted the Nazi app and Insta. Kept Reddit and YouTube. Still happy with that decision.

    3. DotGroundbreaking50 on

      It got deleted, not that any other platform is better but really these short form videos are a productivity nightmare. Trying to just stop entirely

    6. GoldenHourLXXII on

      Never ever installed TikTok, always thought it was oddly strange how the users of said app all seemingly thought they were sudden, “geniuses” in every single subject, but when you look at what they were looking at, it was a cesspool at best.

      Seriously… the craziness of watching someone using an app and, in real time, watching their intelligence go down, but their ego go WAY up is insane.

    10. Rok-SFG on

      Don’t worry, just like twitter and truth social , Putin will fill it with a billion Russian bots so the Nazis can point at it and say how successful or is now that they took over .

    11. bearbev on

      Deleted it years ago. Even before the privacy panic and dont regret it for a second. What a waste of time that app was, I felt myself getting hooked

    12. justaguytrying2getby on

      I deleted the app the other day. Then yesterday went to the website with my vpn to delete my account, but can’t login due to a server error.

    14. LooseButtPlug on

      I was over at my dad’s house today helping with some household chores. He lives in a very rural area of a very red state. At the end of the work we went to one of the nearby country bars. It’s the kind of place that farmers, truckers, and legit cowboy boot wearers and the working class go to unwind with a cold one.

      AOC was on TV and the local gun store owner said to his auto mechanic (friends since highschool).

      “You know what? She ain’t so bad. Trump is out of control, Nazis are rioting and the gestapo is breaking into people’s homes and killing them. Can’t believe I’m saying this but the Republicans were wrong all along.”

      I looked around and all I saw were heads nodding in agreement. I heard a few calls of “Yes sir” and “Damn straight” from the men around me. Even saw the lonely ball cap wearing farmer in the corner raise his drink with a nod.

    15. tacodestroyer99 on

      TLDR:

      “their pattern recognition isn’t paranoia, but rather digital literacy”

      – Ioana Literat, associate professor of technology, media, and learning at Teachers College, Columbia University

      “Even if this isn’t purposeful censorship, does it matter? In terms of perception and trust, maybe”

      – Casey Fiesler, an associate professor of technology ethics and internet law at the University of Colorado, Boulder

    17. SpockShotFirst on

      The thing about Tik Tok, Twitter, Newsmax, OANN, TPUSA and other media companies owned by oligarchs — as long as they are staying on message, they don’t need to be profitable.

      The oligarchs will continue to fund them for as long as they distract people from the outrageous wealth disparity.

    20. SomaDrinkingScally on

      “Alright we’re not being sold to China!”

      – everyone cheers then simultaneously stops working, ignoring errors and customer service e-mails, tech workers staring silently at screens as problems pile up, managers and executives unmoving as their newsfeeds update daily with new problems they could solve with a phone call

      Enshittification. It’s where the money is. Somehow.

    23. GadreelsSword on

      This was the plan all along. Netanyahu was giddy at the thought of TikTok being purchased saying it was going to be used to greatly improve their image.

    31. ThisAutisticChick on

      I tried to delete my account and it won’t send me a code to confirm it’s me. I want FULLY out. Uninstalling without deleting my about does not feel like enough😩

    35. A_Buttholes_Whisper on

      Too be fair the real culprit is Israel. Bibi was very excited for the US take over

    36. Starrr_Pirate on

      It would be low key hilarious if after all the drama about banning tik-tok, it gets unbanned just in time to waste billions of corporate $$$ because the users all decide to voluntarily quit.

    38. AnonomousWolf on

      Decentralised social media is the only way users get to control their social media.

      Aka. The Fediverse

    42. c4upinhisbhole on

      So, the thing people totally said was going to happen happened. Were there people who didn’t realize this? If so, were they in a coma, or part of an uncontacted tribe, or maybe on a secret deep space mission to find an alien civilization to come and vaporize Earth to stop the dumb from spreading?