Let TikTok die a natural death

Plus: internal monologues and the mind's eye, rings, and more

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, and here are this week’s five items for you.

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2. internal monologues and the mind's eye

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4. some recent work

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1. A take I haven’t written elsewhere

Let TikTok die a natural death

(via)

Today President Biden is expected to sign into law a bill that will force Bytedance, the Chinese parent company of the popular video platform TikTok, to either sell the app—or at least its U.S. operations—within nine to 12 months or see it banned in the United States.

The primary rationale is security: “Lawmakers pushing for the restriction have cited concerns that the company’s ownership structure could allow the Chinese government to gain access to Americans’ data, claims that TikTok disputes.” But it’s hard to believe that’s the only reason given past congressional attention to how use of TikTok (along with other social media platforms) can be harmful to children and teenagers, among other ills.

I pretty much share that latter concern. I didn’t talk about TikTok in Untrustworthy—in retrospect, it was on the cusp of its current position of dominance when I was writing in the summer of 2021, but I guess I didn’t realize it then (an admission that strikes me as flattering in my capacity as a person with a not wholly internet-broken brain but arguably less than ideal as a writer).

If I had addressed it, though, the discussion would have been decidedly negative. Of course, you can find people putting good stuff on there. That’s true of any network on this scale. But suffice to say I do not think TikTok’s existence is a net benefit to the world.

Nevertheless, I do not think this bill should become law. I want TikTok to die, but I want it to die a natural death.