The sequence of events as far as I can recall:
- Trump promised to ban TikTok
- TikTok was slated to be “banned” in the twilight of Biden’s term
- Trump says he’d give it 90 days to make a decision
- Biden decides not to ban it, handing it off to Trump
- TikTok goes dark
- It returns, but if you search for something anti-Trump in the United States, you can’t find it
- Using a VPN will give you that content
- Various news outlets are now calling it Trump’s “Propaganda Arm”
What the fuck is going on? From a political or technological standpoint.
One thing I’m convinced of is that the blackout was not the result of some technical requirement such as people’s speculation that it was for an algorithm change or to switch over to meta’s servers. It was either a messy result of their compliance department playing it safe or it was a political stunt. Likely a bit of both given how much money it must have cost. Regardless of what you believe about TikTok’s “true” nature, they’re playing ball with the Trump administration.
The narrative about TikTok being Trump’s propaganda wing may just be the newest tactic to paint leftists as fascists, though. Always be critical when legacy media is in lockstep.