Any social media that isn’t open and self hostable (Lemmy, Mastodon, etc) should not be used. That includes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, and more.
Most social media has, IMHO, been a net-negative for society and I am in the generation that grew up with it in its infancy.
My one wish for Fediverse would be federated identities. So I don’t have to have baronvonj@<platform> for ever single one of them.
On the plus side, it’s nice that you don’t need a new ID for every Lemmy instance.
@baronvonj
What do you mean? I’m posting from a #Friendica account to #mastodon, #lemmy and #pixelfed - One account. no worries
@chronicledmonocle @technologyLemmy sits a bit apart from the rest in that it doesn’t quite work for direct person-to-person interaction. Following Lemmy discussions on Mastodon is possible but clunky and Lemmy doesn’t quite know how to quiet all the @ mentions and things in comments made from Mastodon so they look really loud/busy. I can see Lemmy communities from Firefish but I don’t see any of the posts/comments (maybe I have to follow one first?). I’ve never tried following Lemmy from Pixelfed.
But each of those platforms has a different UI. The experience and features posting media on Pixelfed is much different. But I still have to setup a separate Pixelfed instance account if I want to make use of them. And my data will thus be spread across those instances. And people will need to follow both the Mastodon and Pixelfed accounts if they want to see both sets of posts. I’d love to just hat the one identity to manage with my content from all platforms associated with it.
@baronvonj
Use #Friendica - #lemmy works well there for me - you also got to realise there is a lot of playing around with UIs in different client apps - #Fedilab #racoon plus so many more
@technology
You’re describing what Tim Berners-Lee is tryna build with Solid.
I see a GitHub and Xitter linked on there. Any clue if they have a Mastodon or something similar that I could follow?
Ooh, snazzy. I’ll give it a look.
Lol good luck getting the masses on board
I couldn’t care less about “the masses”. Most of the world are morons.
couldn’t care less**
Thank you. Corrected.
I don’t want the masses. They can stay in the containment shart shead.
Reminder: TikTok is not actually important. Everyone can live their lives without TikTok, YouTube, etc. There’s an infinite amount of ways to entertain ourselves and there’s a lot of competing apps.
This isn’t the government abusing its power to shut down some small business/upstart. It’s shutting down a serious national security threat and a monopoly. TikTok has abused their position many times in many ways, refused to cooperate, and has reached the, “find out” phase.
There is a false dichotomy on Lemmy, that the government should shut down Meta due to security threats too because of this. They can both be bad.
Yeah, they should shut down both. Honestly, X should be on the chopping block even faster that Meta, but Zuck seems committed to racing Musk to the bottom.
I finally drew the line last week and deleted my Meta accounts.
ok, i’m for that, when do we start
I don’t entirely agree. TikTok isn’t just silly dances, thirst traps, and trends—it has played a significant role in community organizing and coalition-building across social movements. Consider the university Pro-Palestine encampments or mainstream news reporting on social media reaction to the United Healthcare CEO’s killing. Neither is solely attributable to TikTok, but the scale and nature of discussion on the platform have demonstrably influenced real-world conversation and activism. Another example is Keith Lee’s viral restaurant reviews transforming the viability of small mom and pop businesses overnight.
What sets TikTok apart isn’t just its massive reach (150 million monthly active users, nearly half the US population) but also its algorithm and features that enable collaborative, asynchronous discussion. Unlike YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels, where content is mostly one-off entertainment with fleeting comment sections, TikTok fosters actual conversations. Features like stitching allow users to directly respond to others, creating an evolving discourse where users can trace context. At times, entire feeds become dominated by discussion of a single topic—sometimes celebrity gossip, but often major events like October 7 or the United Healthcare CEO killing. This level of organic, large-scale discourse doesn’t happen the same way on other platforms. A great example of this dynamic was when TikTok users collectively decided to migrate to the actually Chinese app XiaoHongShu specifically to spite the US government. That didn’t just happen—it was discussed and coordinated.
In my view, TikTok is a national security threat not because of unproven claims about data leaks or state-authored propaganda, but because it provides an already restless and dissatisfied population with a real platform to discuss issues and organize. If a decentralized, open-source alternative existed at scale, TikTok itself wouldn’t be necessary. I acknowledge that TikTok—like any centralized platform—has real issues, particularly around privacy and censorship. But until such a decentralized alternative gains traction, TikTok remains important. And even then, I doubt the US government would be any more comfortable with a decentralized version, since it still wouldn’t give them control over what discussions take place.
This is absurd. Facebook was literally used to sow division and help elect a fascist who constantly says he wants to rule for life and wants to imprison his enemies. Facebook and instagram is wayyyyy more of a national security threat.
A congressman explicitly stated tiktok videos are swaying the opinion of people against israel and america’s genocide in palestine and now its being shut down. This is an abuse of power and its laughable you dont care because “china bad”
If its not censorship because theres alternative ways to communicate than nothing is censorship other than being killed
Reminder: there’s an ongoing trade war between US and China and this is likely just a part of it.
Everyone can live their lives without TikTok, YouTube…
I was an adult before YT and I don’t want to go back to a time before it existed. It’s just too damn useful as a self education tool. Need to learn how to DIY a plumbing problem? Youtube. Need to learn how to subnet a network? Youtube. Interested in the History of Moldova? Youtube.
I finished my basement by watching youtube videos and learning how to do everything from framing to electrical to drywall to finishing work. There isn’t anywhere else you can freely get the same breadth of knowledge on-demand.
Wait until you learn about “libraries.”
They’re what we used before everyone had the worlds store of knowledge in their pocket.
Libraries are good, and a great community resource that should be treasured. However, no library can have the sheer volume of information available that YouTube and the Internet do. There is also the benefit of having more kinds of content, plus the ease of putting information out there.
For example, say I want to learn about the specifics of the defense economics of the war in Ukraine. Sure, I could wait 15 years for books to be published about it, hope my local library buys it, and then go and read it. Or I could log on to YouTube right now and go watch the latest Perun video on it which is also more entertaining. This also is an example of speed of new information being available on current events.
Both of these things have their strengths and weaknesses but it is simply a fact that YouTube has changed the availability of information to quite a high degree.
Yeah, lemme just put on a coat and walk an hour and a half in winter weather to my local library to find a book to tell me how to replace my car’s starter motor.
Wait until you learn about “libraries.”
I still remember the smell of Card Catalogs; a nice mix of old paper and even older wood. Video instructions are often faster and easier to understand. They’re also more accessible.
National security threat?
So how come Twitter ain’t shut down then?
I’ve never even looked at it. Vine was pretty cool but then it died, Periscope was neat, but I dunno, something about Tiktok feels predatory, how addictive it is (from what I’ve seen of others using it).
Plus while they’re all as bad as each other, I still trust China less than Microsoft with my stuff, so yeah. I’m just not interested in it and don’t really see the appeal for myself. But I see why it’s popular and it’s not like, terrible, as a concept.
Stop. Don’t. Come back.
Ok.
(I bet tiktok doesn’t shut down, but if it does I can’t wait for my kids to tell me about all the meltdowns at middle school over tiktok shutting down. Too many parents let their kids have unfettered internet access. No, mine don’t have tiktok.)
No, mine don’t have tiktok
Bet they do
No. They don’t.
I installed the home LAN, set site restrictions, app restrictions, use parental controls on all their devices, use OpenDNS family shield, PiHole, and app installation controls on their devices.
Even of they did find a way to see it I would see the IP address flagged.
Sounds draconian, but social media is fucked up for kids. They can have access at 16. They have a shitload of other internet freedom, though. They’re good kids.
And all of their friends have the same firewalls when they go to hang out?
Not trying to be rude but it seems kinda naive.
My little sister is also not allowed on tiktok but she just uses it on her friend’s phones when they hang out.
Their web browsers are restricted off. They cannot install any apps. This discussion is about what my kids have on their devices, and telling me they might see it elsewhere is irrelevant.
I don’t think you understand my knowledge level, you do me disservice by assuming I’m naive, and your rudeness is because of changing the conditions of the discussion to make yourself right by changing the parameters based on that invented naïveté.
No, I can’t control what they see at their friend’s houses on someone else’s device. I saw the playboy channel at a friend’s house when I was a kid and I didn’t have cable at my house. That’s what kids do. I understand and accept this. I’m not a tyrant or control freak or clutching my pearls. That’s the part where you get to discuss good and bad about social media or any aspect of the internet with your kids, like a parent is supposed to do, and do your best to protect your kids’ mental and physical wellbeing within reason.
Good. TikTok is pure fucking brainrot. People acting like it’s disappearance is some great tragedy make me laugh.
Ok boomer
Just fucking get it over with already! I’m tired of hearing about this shit every single day.
I see ZERO discussion about how this is obvious theatre. We are so incapable of standing up to basic manipulation tactics from the right.
trump first started using tiktok as another xenophobic boogeyman, in what was a fairly nuanced situation - trump’s position being completely wrong, but ultimately some truth to the fact that companies run in China inherently have involvement of the Chinese government and thule should be reached, monitored and if abused, access should be removed.
This actual push was always meant to be something to hang on Biden admin either way (because again, some valid points to a potential ban) but in reality trump will now “save” this artificial shutdown to “restore tiktok” and millions of low information voters and non voters alike will think he did something. And in the meantime, whatever the fuck this lemon8 and red whatever apps are will likely be a huge privacy monitoring home as midst will leave things dormant in background as well after tiktok is “restored”.
Again, we are just so I’ll equipped for anything to do with technology.
I agree with you.
And, well, I assume everything coming from the US is
theaterentertainment from the get-go. That’s why I don’t even bother discussing it anymore although I have recently pointed that out about Trump is trying to divert with the Greenland fiasco and the media is being complicit. This is just another one of the pile. I think he’s purposely flooding the media and pushing for Americans’ mental exhaustion.ultimately some truth to the fact that companies run in China inherently have involvement of the Chinese government
I’d say that’s an understatement. The Chinese government is greatly involved in many aspects of their social media because they don’t have speech protections for individuals nor the press. Xi wants absolute control, so the Chinese government is also involved in other questionable news this week about sponsoring hackers who were primarily targeting the US for gathering intelligence: Millions of Americans caught up in Chinese hacking plot - US. They had state-sponsored malware on 10,000 computers targeting civil rights activists. It doesn’t seem in their interest to play fair, I wonder what their strategy would be if Trump steps in to stroke hes ego.
Also, part of me thinks one of his aides overheard someone talking about banning TikTok for this reason and thought to himself, “Sounds good but it’s too leftist for us to peddle. This would be great to pin on the old geezer!.” and pitched it to Trump as a win-win. It’s absurd, don’t listen to me.
Do it. Let the US be a closed censored state like it desperately wants to be.
They’ll even put the hashtag #freespeach when they deliver their ban.
Free speech means the government will let citizens criticise them or communicate other political opinions without sanctions. It does not mean they can’t ban one channel of communication when they are worried foreign actors use it to take advantage of the citizens. There are plenty other channels through which the citizens can communicate their opinions.
“Worried foreign actors use it to take advantage if the citizens” you mean like Cambridge analytica and facebook? Yet all the government did to them is go after their competitors and give them more power. How strange.
Yall are so thirsty for the boot because its currently stepping on the evil boogeyman our government has trained us to hate
Especially now that trumps coming into power its shocking so much people on here are excited for the government to shut down an app. What makes yall think they wont target lemmy/mastadon/etc once theyre the apps being used show people the genocides being commited by the US and israel
those were not foreign. that is where the US government and law drew the line.
Yeah which is just xenophobic and dumb and doesnt protect Americans. We need comprehensive data protection laws and transparent algorithms not laws that help monopolies gain even more power to manipulate us
🧊 🍑
Do it. Let the hate flow through you.
noooo not the cringe app!! everything but the cringe app
How many western apps are banned in west Taiwan, anyway?
Should Facebook be banned in China?
Already is, but should we compare US and China in terms of censorship?
Don’t tell me, a .ml user came here to complain about whataboutism.
Dumn liberals, only tankies get to do concern trolling and whataboutism.
Lol, I’ve no idea what .ml user even means. I chose an instance with no second thought. They just had a Stardew Valley community I liked.
It already is, and yes.
Fantastic cant wait!
I know the technicality is that it will be voluntarily stopping service rather than just ending new downloads like the ban says.
But “app will shut down when banned” is almost comically anti-news.
Cool.
Cool cool cool.
You shut down one app, ten other apps get more popular
Yes but diversity is good 👍
Why let the Chinese get all the eyeballs for propaganda? Surely we should give other nations a chance?
IMHO they should shut down every app that is both popular and has an exceedingly difficult to penetrate monopoly. Let the competitors rush in and do a it again when the same situation occurs!
Good! Hopefully one of those other apps is federated and free from any hostile interests.
I have my doubts that any app will collect the user base back together ever again. I may be wrong, but once TikTok is gone, people will splinter to different apps that are nowhere near as popular.
If you have $50 Billion, you can buy Tiktok.
I read that Elon Musk might buy it. But the CEO of Tiktok stated that, it isn’t true.
Why would he even need another social media? Besides, dictating what he wants on that site…and make it worse?
I like when Jack Dorsey ran Twitter. It is a crap hole now on there.
As for Tiktok, it won’t matter to me since I am not on there.
you can buy TikTok
Not if they’re not selling
The theory is the tiktok “ban” was an attempt to force a sale on favourable terms , but tiktok has called the bluff.
deleted by creator
Get this Reddit shit out of here
Cool
Bye tiktok
Or hello TikTok? I’m stoked to see a popular social network app without the US!
funny, that not one has been euro/asian/african centric so far, that has gained enough momentum or content to peak your interest yet, lol
If you know of an English speaking socisl network with those characteristics, do let me know
Too bad you can’t find a guide to locating like-minded folks on TikTok anymore
It’s really making me super sad 😢
And no offense to US folks, I love their culture and when I visit people are the nicest. I’m just tired of US politics and it seems to touch everything these days
Great! You’re in luck!
