{"id":755,"date":"2025-01-17T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/?p=755"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:01:08","slug":"the-bright-side-of-tiktoks-downfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/the-bright-side-of-tiktoks-downfall\/","title":{"rendered":"The bright side of TikTok\u2019s downfall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"TikTok

TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified alongside X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child safety online on January 31, 2024. | Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The TikTok ban seems imminent. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law<\/a> that would spell the end of TikTok as we know it in the United States, and now all parties involved are freaking out. Influencers are fleeing to rival platforms, including Xiaohongshu<\/a>, a China-based app also known as RedNote. Politicians, even the ones who initially supported the ban, are trying to delay it<\/a>. TikTok employees are surely wondering<\/a> what they\u2019ll do at work next week.<\/p>\n

Others, however, are wondering if a future without TikTok could actually be a great thing for America. The complete demise of TikTok would mean one of the largest social media-slash-entertainment<\/a> platforms is effectively out of the picture. That would leave billions of hours of attention free and millions of people craving new content, preferably short, viral videos that are microtargeted to each individual user and continuously update the cultural zeitgeist in weird unexpected ways. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what made TikTok so popular in the first place. If some other upstart platform has a better idea, though, the United States is open for business. And one app falling and being replaced by another would be nothing new.<\/p>\n

This kind of innovation has driven the social media industry, like a flywheel, since its inception in the early aughts. A platform, like MySpace, becomes popular and dominates attention spans for a few years, before falling out of fashion as newer platforms, like Facebook, show up with better features. Innovation spins the wheel, but boredom, cultural shifts, and enshittification<\/a> \u2014 how platforms start out serving users and end up serving their own purposes \u2014 slows it down again. <\/p>\n

In TikTok\u2019s case, there are obviously other forces at play: geopolitics and the fickle authority of the US government. It\u2019s still unclear if the government will enforce the ban or whether TikTok might find a way to maintain an American operation. Nevertheless, if it comes to pass, the end of TikTok would not necessarily mean that hundreds of millions of its users would return to the warm embrace of Instagram or YouTube, both of whom have comparable short-form video products. In fact, millions of soon-to-be former TikTok users are joining platforms like RedNote in order to protest the TikTok ban<\/a> as well as the power of Big Tech.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons why RedNote probably won\u2019t become the next TikTok. Chief among them is the fact that Chinese government censors aren\u2019t thrilled by the influx of American users<\/a> and whatever politically sensitive content they might bring with them. It\u2019s entirely possible that these \u201cTikTok refugees\u201d will find themselves kicked off RedNote<\/a> in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

That means the race to become the next TikTok starts now. Sure, plenty of TikTok users will retreat to familiar, aging platforms<\/a> owned by Meta and Google. The TikTok ban also stands to inject the decentralized network of servers known as the fediverse that powers platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon<\/a> with millions more users in search of their new favorite social media app, whatever it might be. Mark Cuban even said ahead of the Supreme Court decision that he would fund a TikTok alternative<\/a> built on Bluesky\u2019s AT Protocol<\/a>, which is an open, decentralized network for social apps. If or how that happens remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media landscape hasn\u2019t shifted from one medium to another,\u201d said Rebecca Rinkevich<\/a>, executive director of institutes at Harvard Law School\u2019s Berkman Klein Center. \u201cIt\u2019s broken into hundreds of fragmented channels unique to every individual \u2014 making the attention economy more competitive than ever. The battle for eyeballs is won with novel features and algorithmic advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n

But before we get too deep into how the intriguing and often confusing fediverse works, it helps to understand why so many people don\u2019t want to go back to Instagram.<\/p>\n

The enshittification of social media <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The mechanics of the TikTok ban may be an outlier in the history of social media companies\u2019 lifecycles, but the disappearance of a platform can lead to better platforms emerging.<\/p>\n

Take Napster, for instance. The file-sharing app lit up college campuses in the late 1990s and early 2000s by offering access to free digital music. This upset the recording artists, who eventually sued Napster out of existence<\/a>. Within a decade, though, a Swedish startup called Spotify would take over the music industry<\/a>, based in part on the Napster model of peer-to-peer file sharing. <\/p>\n

Spotify was a true revelation, offering essentially infinite music at a fairly low monthly cost, which is how it came to be worth nearly $100 billion<\/a>. But now Spotify is plagued with complaints<\/a> about how its platform just isn\u2019t as user friendly as it used to be<\/a>. Some call this platform decay. Others call it enshittification.<\/p>\n

In the words of the Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, enshittification is<\/a> \u201chow platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.\u201d In this 2023 essay, Doctorow goes on to argue that TikTok was well on its way to enshittification, as it \u201ccouldn’t resist the temptation to show you the things it<\/em> wants you to see, rather than what you<\/em> want to see\u201d \u2014 a problem, given that TikTok\u2019s whole reason for being was showing you what you wanted to see. (There\u2019s a reason its pages are called \u201cFor You.\u201d) <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, even without the actions of Congress, TikTok couldn\u2019t be the trending, avant-garde social media platform forever. It had already fallen into a cycle we saw with MySpace, then Facebook, Instagram, YouTube \u2014 basically any platform that rose to prominence on the back of its utility and popularity with users and then decayed into something less useful but more profitable<\/a>. In the past couple of years, TikTok\u2019s decay has shown itself in the form of pushy ads<\/a> and an inescapable shopping feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone got on this platform \u2014 and Instagram and YouTube \u2014 initially because it offered something exciting and free and added value to their interactions online,\u201d Rory Mir<\/a> of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. \u201cOver time, it’s been diluted by advertisements, manipulative content, and just has become a bad experience for the user.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s still a chance that TikTok will live to die another day in the United States. The law that the Congress passed last year requires the social media platform\u2019s parent company ByteDance to divest or shutter its US operations by Sunday. Apple and Google, by law, will have to stop offering TikTok in their app stores after that date. Although the app will continue to work, ByteDance won\u2019t be allowed to update it, so it will degrade over time. ByteDance, however, reportedly plans to shut down the app<\/a> on the deadline, if it doesn’t get a lifeline. <\/p>\n

But it might not have to. The Biden administration has said that it would not enforce the ban before Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration on Monday. Trump, who called for a TikTok ban back in 2020<\/a>, is reportedly considering issuing an executive order to \u201csave TikTok\u201d<\/a> soon after his inauguration, which TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will be attending<\/a>. Legally, Trump probably can\u2019t do that with an executive order alone, since Congress passed the law and Biden signed it, but he could order his Department of Justice not to enforce the ban. Apple and Google could continue to let users download the app, ByteDance could keep updating it, and nobody would get fined up to $5,000 per user<\/a> that can still access the app, if that\u2019s the case. And that\u2019s a big \u201cif.\u201d<\/p>\n

TikTok\u2019s surprise survival, though, wouldn\u2019t halt that cycle of decay. Already millions of TikTok users were prepared to leave before the ban took effect, flooding alternative video apps like RedNote, Lemon8, and Flip<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So not everyone is defaulting to watching Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and it remains to be seen if they can or would return to TikTok. They may be ready for something new.<\/p>\n

A fediverse by any other name<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If the conversation around TikTok alternatives feels familiar, that\u2019s because we had a very similar one a couple years ago<\/a>, when Elon Musk bought Twitter. Many predicted that Musk would transform that platform into a right-wing echo chamber, which he did<\/a>, and wanted to move their attention elsewhere. <\/p>\n

That search for a new place to post is what introduced a lot of people to the idea of the fediverse, which is a good idea with a terrible name.<\/p>\n

The fediverse is a blanket term for a new approach to social media, one that relies on open-source software and decentralized networks of servers. Here\u2019s a useful definition from David Pearce at The Verge<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s an interconnected social platform ecosystem based on an open protocol called ActivityPub<\/a>, which allows you to port your content, data, and follower graph between networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In theory, your social media followers will follow you from network to network. You could also set up a single feed that would show you content from several platforms at once. <\/p>\n

So imagine if you didn\u2019t have to pick one TikTok alternative but instead you could see Reels, Shorts, and Snaps in one place. That\u2019s not possible because Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat are closed ecosystems. There are signs that some legacy platforms are open to a new way of doing things, though. Meta turned heads last year, when it allowed Threads users to crosspost to fediverse platforms<\/a> and follow fediverse accounts<\/a>. There are also a growing number of developers building more open alternatives to major platforms using fediverse-friendly protocols.<\/p>\n

Bluesky emerged as the most promising Twitter alternative<\/a> last year in part because it offered users a familiar, friendly front end experience without getting into the details of protocols, servers, or fediverse principles. (Freedom from Musk\u2019s politics on X probably didn\u2019t hurt either<\/a>.) Bluesky basically looks like Twitter used to look. And that success laid the groundwork for similar projects. <\/p>\n

Just days before the Supreme Court\u2019s TikTok decision, a startup called Pixelfed released mobile apps<\/a> for its open, decentralized photo-sharing service. It\u2019s basically Instagram but for the fediverse. There\u2019s also one called Flashes, which is built on top of Bluesky<\/a>, that came out around the same time. <\/p>\n

The \u201cinterconnected social platform ecosystem\u201d fun doesn\u2019t stop with photo-sharing. The developer behind Pixelfed, Daniel Supernaul, also built a decentralized TikTok alternative called Loops<\/a>. While the app hasn\u2019t been released yet, you can see where things are going: When one major platform falls out of favor or shuts down, others rush to fill the void with a new approach, unique features, or even a completely different architecture. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s still hard to say which, if any, of these fediverse projects will become the next global sensation. After all, it\u2019s notoriously difficult to create the next Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok. Not only does the app have to work, but the right group of people have to come together to make it a sensation. And then you need something special.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatching a good point in time to be there when networks form is important,\u201d said Katrin Weller<\/a>, a professor at GESIS and Heinrich Heine University D\u00fcsseldorf. \u201cSometimes very small changes in the technology can make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so far little evidence that any of these fediverse projects have the novelty, momentum, or innovative touch to win a billion users in the next few years. Bluesky, for all its success, still has fewer than 30 million users<\/a>, compared to 275 million Threads users. TikTok, by the way, says it has 170 million US users<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Then again, who knows what tech will come up with next. TikTok started out as a lip-synching app for teens<\/a>, only to evolve into an engine for internet culture and influence in the span of a few years. Facebook started out as a campus directory for college students and then evolved into a cesspool of misinformation<\/a> that also sells VR headsets. <\/p>\n

Or maybe Elon Musk will buy TikTok, too<\/a>, and fold it into X. That could really send people fleeing to the fediverse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified alongside X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on child safety online on January 31, 2024. | Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images The TikTok ban seems imminent. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would spell the end of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":767,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions\/767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/asian-idol.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}