I think we’re at a social media tipping point.

The TikTok ban (and subsequent overturn) has been… interesting, to say the least. Once people decided the TikTok ban was real, they flocked to a Chinese app that is named after Mao’s book of communist propaganda as a “screw you” to the American government. Cultural exchange was happening in an unprecedented way and added fuel to the fire of class consciousness ignited by the United Healthcare CEO situation. TikTok went dark for half a day before it was brought back with a “thank you President Trump” message that people are rightfully clocking as propaganda.

At the same time, folks have fled Elon Musk’s Twitter that has been enshittified to hell.

Zuckerberg, also kissing Trump’s ass, has decided to roll back harassment protections for queer and trans people, and women (probably other marginalized groups too, tbh). He’s gotten rid of (to the extent it actually existed) fact checking on Facebook because apparently facts are too biased. And while it’s (temporarily) discontinued to my knowledge, Meta was also introducing AI profiles in order to drive engagement, as opposed to genuine conversations, because the former lines his pockets more.

I think this is a tipping point. People are realizing that these tech companies have our worst interests at heart. They fuck around with our data, they keep us numb to the suffering that we and others experience, and they drive us apart. They have been valuable tools for disseminating information and building communities in some capacities. But I think we’re entering a new era.

I have questions more than anything. I want to get off most of these platforms (Meta-owned, Twitter, TikTok). Do I find alternatives? The fediverse stuff (google it) seems interesting, though there’s a learning curve and without large scale uptake, not going to find the same kind of interactions we’re used to having on social media. Does going to an alternative just mean giving a different capitalist money? How are we going to organize? How are we going to disseminate information?

I hope this drives us to get into real-life communities more. I hope people take that lesson from this. We’ve lost that skill and I hope we relearn it. In the interim, I hope we can invest some time in some good discussions around how we divest from the capitalists’ tech while maintaining connections for each other for information sharing. I’d love feedback from anyone else thinking about these things