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A TikTok, Ya Don’t Stop

TikTok’s possible ban is peak US Hypocrisy

Aaron Crocco
4 min readJan 21, 2025

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Illustration by Katamaheen

In what could only be the biggest layup in US history for a Day One Presidential Win, the whiplash of TikTok’s status is one that’ll go down in history.

The headline could’ve come from The Onion because it’s so laughable, the ban lasted about 12-hours. The Trump grift continues because he signaled a delay in enforcing the law in his pre-inauguration speech. You know Trump does nothing for anyone without a direct benefit to himself, so whether money was passed via “inauguration contribution” or convincing them to sell to his new Best Buddy Elon, remains to be seen. Why the Biden administration waited for his last day to bring the law into effect, teeing it up for Trump to reverse via Executive Order or with the aforementioned delated enforcement, is beyond explanation.

For years, even in president Trump’s first term, TikTok was a frequent target of the US Government. This mainly stems from a “fear of anything related to the Chinese government” and the fact that the app is ripe for data collection and influence over Americans. But what does one decide to do in “the land of the free”? Banning it seemed to be The Answer. Spoiler, it’s not.

TikTok’s rise to popularity is really due to what I’ll call its “hyper algorithm” wherein it learns what you want to see

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Aaron Crocco
Aaron Crocco

Written by Aaron Crocco

I curate the internet and send it to hundreds of people in my newsletter each week. Yes, that is my DeLorean. #BTTF, Sliders, Whovian, . Powered by coffee ☕

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