Summary

Analysts predict a potential global ripple effect if the U.S. ban on TikTok remains, with allied nations likely to follow.

Experts cite the ousting of Chinese and Russian tech firms like Huawei and Kaspersky on national security grounds as a blueprint for how the ban could spread worldwide.

TikTok is already restricted on government devices in many countries, and the Five Eyes Alliance nations have issued warnings.

If the ban expands, TikTok risks losing its U.S. user base, curbing revenues and global reach, potentially accelerating its decline.

  • @RizzRustbolt
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    127 minutes ago

    Because it worked so well in the US.

  • Snot Flickerman
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    4 hours ago

    The internet is becoming balkanized.

    Time to start building a parallel community-organized internet around it.

    Oh wait we’ve already planted the seeds of that with what we’re doing here on the Fediverse. Carry on, carry on.

    • @grue
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      72 hours ago

      Oh wait we’ve already planted the seeds of that with what we’re doing here on the Fediverse. Carry on, carry on.

      We don’t control the physical layer. We need wireless mesh networking, including long-range links.

      • Snot Flickerman
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        32 hours ago

        A grue after my own heart! 100% exactly, and this is an issue I feel like most other people aren’t discussing!

        Decentralization is moot if we’re using centralized pipes controlled by corporations and governments.

        We need a return to community communications like the days of the barbed wire phone networks.

    • @NineMileTower
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      94 hours ago

      I agree that the decentralized Internet is the best idea, but no one is here. I hope it picks up.

      • Snot Flickerman
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        4 hours ago

        Enough folks are here for me. In fact, I’d argue that this is right about the right size, and that if we get that much bigger, it will become a mess like anything else.

        I’ve spoken about it with some others, and we think that part of the problem with major sites like reddit is the scale itself.

        That at a certain point, no amount of modding tools can save you from the flood of users doing things you have to moderate.

        It’s why I think moderation needs to be a paid position (a la MetaFilter), and a site needs to have a max userbase tailored to how many mods they have available.

        When you add more users, you’re actually exponentially increasing user interactions. Most of the time, you’re actually moderating interactions between users than actual individual users, so you must add moderators exponentially as your userbase grows because the potential connections between users are growing exponentially compared to the number of users.

      • @[email protected]
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        54 hours ago

        The big issue is the user experience for the fediverse sucks. Tbh I still don’t understand the whole different servers thing lmao and the apps that have been developed are clearly designed by engineers without a designer input. So far Voyager has had the best UX and Mastodon’s is ok but the others haven’t been great. We gotta find a simple way to explain it to simple people and focus on creating mobile apps with good UX

        • Snot Flickerman
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          3 hours ago

          You know what the simple way is? Are you a designer? Yes? Then please get involved in the project and help the engineers design it.

          It’s all Open Source. That means anyone can contribute, and if designers aren’t contributing, then the design will be done by engineers.

          It takes volunteers and I’m so so so so tired of seeing people bitch about it but are unwilling to volunteer their time to make it better.

          None of these people are being paid, all the work they do for you is for free for your benefit. They do not have Venture Capital backing them with millions of dollars like Bluesky owes Blockchain Capitol. $15 million to be exact. $15 million they’re going to want a return on which means monetizing users. (Something that won’t happen in an Open Source ecosystem)

          “It’s not my job to contribute to a community project that I use daily” you may as well be saying “It’s not my job to make the world a better place.”

          • @[email protected]
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            83 hours ago

            I am a designer and would love to be involved! Hell, helping the cause and having a great new portfolio piece is like a 2 for 1 special. I’m new here and just commenting on my observations. I’m going to be looking for avenues to get involved.

          • @[email protected]
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            23 hours ago

            I get your frustration though, I’m sure if you’ve been here awhile you’ve heard it millions of times. It does seem like they’re making progress, I’ve heard the new Pixelfed design is much better.

        • @[email protected]
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          43 hours ago

          Hmm I feel like Mlem works exactly like Apollo did and you never even have to notice you’re using the fediverse.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 hours ago

          I don’t get this. To me the experience has been 95% identical to using reddit, the only main difference I find is it’s harder to search for new communities as instances don’t all just sync without being discovered first.

    • @[email protected]
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      54 hours ago

      State run bot farms will eventually come for us here too. Any system that’s open is vulnerable.

  • @fluxion
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    22 hours ago

    X is a far greater threat to the information space of our allies

  • @expatriado
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    14 hours ago

    my 30+ year old siblings are complaining their teenage focus platform is getting banned

    • @[email protected]
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      23 hours ago

      I don’t think Tik Tok is focused on teenagers. It has a very wide target audience, many adults used it for various information. I’ve heard of senior aged content creators being sad because their platform was a way to connect when they’re lonely and they’re not sure where to go now