Trump Backs Elon Musk as Possible TikTok Buyer, Suggests Government Stake

[turbineseaplane]

Look - I am all for not calling people Nazis just because we disagree with them. But I studied German history in college, am sitting in my home office that has a bookshelf with over a dozen books in both English and German about the third reich (many of which I've read more than once), and took a seminar on fascist theory at a university in Berlin. A long way of saying I know a fascist salute when I see one. I don't know why he got so excited he felt the need to throw up a fascist salute, and frankly don't really care. But I'm not going to get gaslit into being told I didn't see what I saw.

But you don't have to take my word for it, a lot of fascists thought it was a fascist salute too.

Amen to all of this ^^ (and I'm not religious)

I'm from a family that had to escape Nazi Germany and I will not roll over to anyone telling me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing with something like this.

I find this hideous and dangerous to be explaining away this behavior from Musk

 

[arkitect]

Look - I am all for not calling people Nazis just because we disagree with them. But I studied German history in college, am sitting in my home office that has a bookshelf with over a dozen books in both English and German about the third reich (many of which I've read multiple times), and took a seminar on how fascism takes over countries and spreads at a university in Berlin as a part of my study abroad experience. A long way of saying I know a fascist salute when I see one. I don't know why he got so excited he felt the need to throw up a fascist salute, and frankly don't really care. But I'm not going to get gaslit into being told I didn't see what I saw.

But you don't have to take my word for it, a lot of fascists thought it was a fascist salute too.

100% Agree.

Amen to all of this ^^ (and I'm not religious)

I'm from a family that had to escape Nazi Germany and I will not roll over to anyone telling me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing with something like this.

I find this hideous and dangerous to be explaining away this behavior from Musk

Agree.

Welcome to the new world order.
And this is only Day 3...

 

[dannyyankou]

I usually avoid talking about politics here, but what I’m going to say is not partisan. I don’t want the government owning any percentage of any social media company. Whether it be a democrat or republican. It’s a dangerous precedent.

 

[Supermallet]

Of course, TikTok was the most mainstream and popular app that wasn’t spewing US propaganda 24/7, so the oligarchs had to find a way to bring it under their control.

 

[Supermallet]

Look - I am all for not calling people Nazis just because we disagree with them. But I studied German history in college, am sitting in my home office that has a bookshelf with over a dozen books in both English and German about the third reich (many of which I've read multiple times), and took a seminar on how fascism takes over countries and spreads at a university in Berlin as a part of my study abroad experience. A long way of saying I know a fascist salute when I see one. I don't know why he got so excited he felt the need to throw up a fascist salute, and frankly don't really care. But I'm not going to get gaslit into being told I didn't see what I saw.

But you don't have to take my word for it, a lot of fascists thought it was a fascist salute too.

It was beyond obvious and anyone denying it is carrying water for fascists. They are trying to gaslight you and it’s not worth engaging them. Best to block and move on. Elon gave a Nazi salute twice, there is no doubt about it.

 

[DougFNJ]

They were booted from the service for "conservative viewpoints" is a pretty hilarious straw man argument.

Were they booted off for comments about fiscal policy? 🤣

When you say "conservative viewpoints", you are purposefully muddying the waters by lumping everything from christian values to hate speech.

99% of instances of a "conservative" getting booted off a service I've seen has been because the person has been advocating violence or otherwise speaking in an inflammatory manner toward another group.

You just said a lot without saying anything.

This is a verifiable fact. NY Post tweeted an article about Hunter Biden's laptop. Whitehouse reposted it. Within an hour, both were booted off the platform for posting "Fake News". It was later exposed that the government pushed this. Musk revealed it, Zuckerberg confirmed it, no government officials denied it. This precise example doesn't have anything to do with violence or "hate speech".

Many of my friends, none of who are racist or violent would post something about Covid or masks, or posted a funny meme about Biden and they were given a 30 day break from Facebook. Again, not violent, not hate speech. Zuckerberg confirmed the government was pushing him hard to remove posts which in 2020 ultimately worked as a biased advantage in a presidential campaign.

Laugh about it all you want, remove your double standard goggles and see it for what it is. Had this been reversed, the tone would be completely different. Free speech was weaponized.

 

[maxoakland]

Let the censorship commence!

 

[maxoakland]

The problem is not social media but the fact that they can be so easily bought and manipulated by billionaires.

Fortunately, there is bluesky which is at least built to be billionaire resistant (although not billionaire proof). I suggest everyone that wants to connect with decent, intelligent, and interest human beings to head over there.

Mastodon is even better. Being open source means it cannot be controlled

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Remember when people were upset about the previous administration being "in bed" with social media companies? What ever happened to those folk?

 

[FaustsHausUK]

I like TikTok. I shared the same dim view of it till my partner started using it during the pandemic - it turns out it's actually a really great source of information. I've followed lots of great political writers/thinkers, chefs and bakers, tech experts and much more on there.

The second there's even a whiff that Elon is moving forward, I'm out. I left Twitter before his "let that sink in" stunt and I will do it again. That drug-addled racist can do one.

 

[willzyx]

Perfect platform to brainwash a bunch of teenagers for the next 3 years, right before the next election. X didn't work, Truth Social didn't work. TikTok is perfect though. Now Trump is a savior, all because Democrats couldn't see what he was trying to do and went along with the ban. Democrats outplayed like a bunch of school children, kinda pathetic that our future is in the hands of such people.

Age limits for government positions should be a priority at this point.

 

[willzyx]

I don’t want my tax payer dollars to be spent on buying TikTok. Also isn’t government ownership of a company a communist thing?

Well see, here's the thing. It's only a communist thing, if Democrats do it.

 

[surferfb]

This is a verifiable fact. NY Post tweeted an article about Hunter Biden's laptop. Whitehouse reposted it. Within an hour, both were booted off the platform for posting "Fake News". It was later exposed that the government pushed this. Musk revealed it, Zuckerberg confirmed it, no government officials denied it. This precise example doesn't have anything to do with violence or "hate speech".

The Trump Administration requested the article be taken down because it had all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign to influence the election. While I agree it was clear this was hasty and probably shouldn’t have been done, they weren’t doing it to protect Biden.

Many of my friends, none of who are racist or violent would post something about Covid or masks, or posted a funny meme about Biden and they were given a 30 day break from Facebook. Again, not violent, not hate speech. Zuckerberg confirmed the government was pushing him hard to remove posts which in 2020 ultimately worked as a biased advantage in a presidential campaign.

Laugh about it all you want, remove your double standard goggles and see it for what it is. Had this been reversed, the tone would be completely different. Free speech was weaponized.

Again, President Trump was in charge of the government in 2020, not President Biden. I assure you the party in power during the 2020 election was not leaning on Zuckerberg to help Joe Biden out.

 

[wanha]

Mastodon is even better. Being open source means it cannot be controlled

They’re based on the same fundamental idea with slightly different protocols

 

[wanha]

lol. The founder of Blue Cry, Dorsey, abandoned it and went back to X. It’ll go the same direction as mastodon and threads…..nowhere. They’re all trying to copy X and will fail miserably and frankly, it’s hilarious.

that's, like, your opinion man

 

[avz]

Any other decent country would have sacked him well before this Hitler Salute and he's getting all these opportunities. Sick

Like Ukraine, right?

Why can't there be more countries/projects who aspire to be just like Ukraine?

 

[wanha]

You just said a lot without saying anything.

This is a verifiable fact. NY Post tweeted an article about Hunter Biden's laptop. Whitehouse reposted it. Within an hour, both were booted off the platform for posting "Fake News". It was later exposed that the government pushed this. Musk revealed it, Zuckerberg confirmed it, no government officials denied it. This precise example doesn't have anything to do with violence or "hate speech".

Many of my friends, none of who are racist or violent would post something about Covid or masks, or posted a funny meme about Biden and they were given a 30 day break from Facebook. Again, not violent, not hate speech. Zuckerberg confirmed the government was pushing him hard to remove posts which in 2020 ultimately worked as a biased advantage in a presidential campaign.

Laugh about it all you want, remove your double standard goggles and see it for what it is. Had this been reversed, the tone would be completely different. Free speech was weaponized.

Ok let's do verifiable facts:

1. Trump was in power in 2020 when all those things were asked to be removed.

2. Are you saying that Trump was pushing Facebook hard to help Biden get elected against himself?

Now, please consider this.

Did you misunderstand what happened that made you make those clearly illogical statements or is it possible that you were fed this misinformation as truth?

Liberal media is not your friend. But you are a damned fool if you think conservative media is.

 

[Razorpit]

No they aren't

They are interested in having alternative spaces to share content and not get harassed or doxxed or just have things be generally unpleasant

They are both doing wonderfully with that intent in mind

It's always been a farce that we should have just one place for the whole world to congregate (as Twitter had sort of become). It's great to have alternatives

Are you new to the internet? Old school Twitter was the OG for doxing and harassment.

Amen to all of this ^^ (and I'm not religious)

I'm from a family that had to escape Nazi Germany and I will not roll over to anyone telling me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing with something like this.

I find this hideous and dangerous to be explaining away this behavior from Musk

I'm from a family who fought back against the Nazi's when they came through their small village. A villager turned on them, reported where they were in the woods, and they were caught. They were locked in a barn and the barn was burned to the grown. Anyone who attempted to escape the burning barn was shot. You are not seeing what you think you are seeing.

Remember when people were upset about the previous administration being "in bed" with social media companies? What ever happened to those folk?

I think most people that were against it then are still against it now. Similar to Net Neutrality that disappeared after much outcry at the time, and nothing became of it.

 

[kycophpd]

The government will not own any part of it. The First Amendment and caselaw is clear. The government cannot silence the people. If you allow one to speak, you have to allow all. You can only delete comments in very limited circumstances. Private company's can do what they want. So every person banned or who had a comment blocked will have a first amendment violation against the government. The app would essentially have to be shut down or allowed to run free until sold. Private or publicly traded companies are the only ones who will ever own a social media company, not the government. Why hundreds of government attorneys are not running to him to tell him this I will never understand.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The government will not own any part of it. The First Amendment and caselaw is clear. The government cannot silence the people. If you allow one to speak, you have to allow all. You can only delete comments in very limited circumstances. Private company's can do what they want. So every person banned or who had a comment blocked will have a first amendment violation against the government. The app would essentially have to be shut down or allowed to run free until sold. Private or publicly traded companies are the only ones who will ever own a social media company, not the government. Why hundreds of government attorneys are not running to him to tell him this I will never understand.

While I agree with you ... You seem to be running under the old rules here

 

[dypeterc]

I take it you had a major problem with George soros buying hundreds of radio stations, too, right? Or is he the “right” kind of billionaire oligarch?

So you must also be outraged with the conservative news network called Fox News?

 

[buckwheet]

Complete insanity...

 

[vantelimus]

I take it you had a major problem with George soros buying hundreds of radio stations, too, right? Or is he the “right” kind of billionaire oligarch?

The repeal on media ownership is what has led to the consolidation of media into the hands a few large corporations. This is a problem irrespective of the politics of the owners. But, what has contributed more to the current partisan polarization of media, were the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the elimination of requirements for programming in the public interest. Our current imbalanced hyper-partisan media can directly be traced to these mistakes of the Reagan administration.

 

[DougFNJ]

Ok let's do verifiable facts:

1. Trump was in power in 2020 when all those things were asked to be removed.

2. Are you saying that Trump was pushing Facebook hard to help Biden get elected against himself?

Now, please consider this.

Did you misunderstand what happened that made you make those clearly illogical statements or is it possible that you were fed this misinformation as truth?

Liberal media is not your friend. But you are a damned fool if you think conservative media is.

Do you remember Peter Strzok as an example?investigations through that entire 4 years? There was an issue with government and law enforcement officials in power that wanted Trump out, besides these facts, are you ok with “rich oligarchs” suppressing free speech to serve an agenda regardless of what political side? This isn’t any media feeding that to me, this is the horses mouths.

 

[macsimcon]

Trump is no conservative.

I couldn't agree more, but why did so many Republicans vote for him?

The repeal on media ownership is what has led to the consolidation of media into the hands a few large corporations. This is a problem irrespective of the politics of the owners. But, what has contributed more to the current partisan polarization of media, were the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the elimination of requirements for programming in the public interest. Our current imbalanced hyper-partisan media can directly be traced to these mistakes of the Reagan administration.

Yes, the repeal on media ownership got us here, but it's now irrelevant. Generation Z is the largest generation ever, and they don't listen to the radio, there's The Silent Generation, the Boomers, and some Gen X for that.

Dear friends in the US, enjoy your freedoms while they last. Trump has us worried on the other side of the great pond too.

Our country elected a psychopathic madman with unstoppable access to nuclear weapons, and a desire to leave NATO so Putin can take Europe. You ought to be worried.

But it's alright that the television and newspapers are primary controlled by left wing organizations.

The owner of the L.A. Times is a conservative. Both the New York Times and Washington Post obeyed Trump in advance, and Bezos even attended Trump's inauguration..after giving him money. The Wall Street Journal is conservative, and Fox is owned by a conservative. Where are the left wing papers and networks? I'm not being provocative, I'm serious. Which ones?

I've never been an "every billionaire is a policy mistake" kind of guy, but now that Musk bought himself into government, has become even more unfathomably wealthy, is getting all kinds of policies bent his way and may now be even further dominating the public square -- on top of the cabinet being stocked full of billionaires and centimillionaires, the obsequiousness of the tech billionaires, Trump himself and especially his memecoin, etc. etc. -- it's turning pretty clear that they may simply be too incompatible with democracy.

And the United States discovered this just in time to become an autocracy.

Is this really so?

Right wing owned media:

Fox News - owned by billionaire Murdoch

WaPo - owned by billionaire Bezos

Wall Street Journal - owned by billionaire Murdoch

New York Post - owned by Murdoch


Centrist media (i.e. not left or right):

AP

Reuters

USA Today

NPR

PBS

Politico

The Hill


I don't know about you, but based on the above, it sure doesn't seem that media in the US is "primarily controlled by left wing organization" as you assert

The Hill used to be centrist, but it's right wing now. Any criticism of Israel's actions are blocked.

Source?? Also @foobarbaz, source for the tik tok emptying one of his rallies??….

Sadly, the guy is right about more eligible voters choosing not to vote than voting for either candidate: https://www.usnews.com/news/nationa...w-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election

I am having a blast watching this national correction. It is like a combination of Troop Anubis Baboons, circus clowns, the WWE, Roller Derby, and the UFC duking it out in a maximum no-rules cage match. Thanks to social media, I can watch it all. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'm glad that you find kleptocracy, kakistocracy, plutocracy, and autocracy so entertaining. Hitler with nuclear weapons is hilarious! I suppose that's one way to cope...

Not to reply to myself, but if the government owns a stake in it doesn't that mean that technically they can't ban anyone?

BT yes, AT absolutely not.

Umm you understand the last 4 years of the administration started this no?

How do you figure? Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first administration: https://apnews.com/article/trump-tiktok-ban-da11df6d59c17e2c17eea40c4042386d