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TikTok…Tick Tock…BOOM!!!!! In Defense of TikTok

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The UnderDog Says:

The U.S. House of Representatives dropped a BOMB by passing legislation to cancel the world’s most popular social network, TikTok.

TikTok is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in from three seconds to 10 minutes,[1] and is accessed via a smart phone app.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

TikTok reported it drove significant economic growth for more than seven million businesses in the U.S. economy by helping to support more than $24 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), and more than 224,000 American jobs, delivering a competitive edge to small businesses across the nation.[2]

In terms of global internet traffic, it is becoming more accessed than Google, including Google Maps and Gmail. By the end of 2021, the company’s data showed TikTok was the #1 most popular domain, followed by Google.com, Facebook.com, Microsoft.com and Apple.com.[3] It was downloaded 693 million times in 2019, and 850 million times in 2020,[4] and was downloaded more than two billion times by 2020, the last time data is available.[5] The average time a user spends is also higher for TikTok compared to YouTube, indicating high levels of engagement.[6]

Here are some interesting facts about TikTok from Pew Research:

A third of U.S. adults – including a majority of adults under 30 – use TikTok
A majority of U.S. teens use TikTok
A relatively small share of users produce most of TikTok’s content.
About four-in-ten U.S. TikTok users (43%) say they regularly get news there.[7]

USER ENGAGEMENT AND CONTENT TRENDS

TikTok drives user engagement with its “For You Page” (FYP) algorithm with personalized user preferences, keeping them engaged, and adapts to emerging trends and viral challenges. These features cultivate a sense of community amongst its users.[8]

TikTok attracts a younger, trend-focused demographic, while Facebook and Instagram cater to a broader audience. Businesses and marketers increasingly recognize the platform’s potential for digital marketing to engage with users effectively.[9]

One reason TikTok is so successful its small businesses and individuals have greater success compared to others. The minimum average cost of a sponsored post with 1 million views on: YouTube is $2,500, Instagram is $1,200, and Tik Tok $1,034. TikTok is the less expensive and it also get the best results. Small Social Media user often point out that their posts do significantly better on TikTok compared to other platforms.[10]

TikTok moderates content keeping it positive and encouraging, in comparison to other platforms.[11] It is a force to be reckoned with. If you think Facebook, Instagram, Google, and others have not taken notice, you are mistaken. Many believe these companies may be behind the push to get this app cancelled and benefit in the process.

THE GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED

A bill was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 to ban the TikTok app, with its over 170 Million US Users, ^[12] over national security concerns related to its Chinese parent company.[13] The House’s bill would require ByteDance to sell the social media app or be banned.

In May of 2023, a former employee filed a wrongful termination suit claiming ByteDance had “supreme access” to all data held, including servers in the United States.[14] ByteDance denied this, but there is still concern in the eyes of both US Political parties. Whenever the Congress has bipartisan support on anything, like this bill did, it should cause concern. Is this the Uni-party in action? The Bill will now move on to the Senate where many believe it will not pass.

Many say this bill is about protecting American citizens’ privacy, but many conversely believe TikTok’s competitors are pushing to get it banned so they could profit even more. Some believe the US Government is seeking more control of Social Networks and TikTok sometimes may be providing an alternative point of view not in line with the narratives they already influence. Former President Trump said banning TikTok would benefit Facebook, and “…I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the American people.” He criticized Facebook parent company Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s donations during the 2020 election to nonprofits to help local election offices improve their technology, educate voters, train poll workers, and get out the vote for Democratic candidates.[15]

Many people believe banning TikTok will only give more control to other social media companies to censor topics that do not fall in line with their narratives. If lawmakers ban TikTok, the only platforms left will be those that are:

1) Worse at helping small creators find an audience and

2) More likely to play ball with organizations involved with Censorship.[16]

WHY IS TIKTOK TO SUCCESSFUL?

One reason TikTok is so popular is Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube no longer cater to the small businesses and individuals. With the big bucks coming from large companies, they have found it more profitable to promote these users, thereby downplaying small users. Just ask any small user trying to gain progress on these other sites. It appears TikTok far exceeds the payback smaller users receive, while they get ‘lost’ on the other networks. An interesting differentiator of this platform is anyone can have their post go viral; it is not dependent on how many followers you have. This is a unique difference from other social platforms. In other words, you don’t have to spend years building your followers before one of your posts can go viral, a very attractive feature for small users.

In addition, Google; Instagram and Facebook have been shadow-banning and outright banning thousands of conservative users, including the Gateway Pundit and JoeHoft.com and many others. They even censored President Trump when he was in office.

David Rand wrote:

“Removing a platform that at times challenges the accepted narrative would give even more power to that group of government actors (and their private counterparts) to decide what content gets promoted — and what content gets buried….”[17]

In other words, keeping TikTok would help preserve free speech and not place it firmly into the hands of those who have already proved they can and will suppress it.

BIG BROTHER (AND CHINA) IS WATCHING YOU

People say TikTok is ‘watching’ and collecting data from its users and providing it to the Chinese Government. They deny this, but we already know that Google, Facebook, Instagram, and others have and continue to collect user data. Some say they willingly share the data they collect from their users with the US Government. It appears that everyone is watching us.

America is now putting citizens in prison for posting information unfavorable to those in charge, including satire, a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. Douglass Mackey posted a Hillary Clinton meme ahead of the 2016 election, and was sentenced to seven months in prison.[18]^, [19] This is opposite of freedom of speech.

The US government has been buying your data to spy on you and your tax dollars are going to the data brokers. By purchasing this data, Sara Morrison of Vox reports, it allows Government agencies to bypass the need for a warrant to spy on US Citizens.[20]

A MORAL DECISION?

Is TikTok a good influence on our culture? Is it a force for good? The more important question is, “Is the content on TikTok more reprehensible and damming to our culture than other Social Networks?” They answer is simple, it is not. That brings us to a more important question, are any social networks a good influence on our culture?

Although Christians are gaining more traction and more users on TikTok,[21] they still represent a small percentage. As far as we can tell, the number one Christian content provider has almost 13 million follows, while and the number one content provider on the platform, has over 160 million followers.

It is encouraging, at this point, to see that Christian content on TikTok is not shadow banned, which it appears to be so on other platforms. We as Christians should take every opportunity to speak about Jesus Christ and use every tool and avenue available to us. Remember, the ONLY time Christians’ said they would not obey the government in the New Testament was in regards to speaking about Jesus Christ (See this UnderDog Report on this topic).[22] So let’s speak about Jesus on TikTok.

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The Underdog Report produces content on current events from a Biblical perspective. This is done to provide a positive Godly point of view as an alternative to today’s “anti-Christian” Media, and to encourage people to be followers of Christ. Gary Scarano is the UnderDog Report.

Gary Scarano is the author of the book “The Jesus Gospel” (JesusGospel.com). Not since the New Testament of the Bible was written, has anyone combined the 4-Gospels ‘Word-For-Word’ into a continuous chronological timeline. Read the 4-Gospels, the record of Jesus Christ’s life, blended into a single COMPLETE story.

Gary also ran with the Olympic Torch in the Los Angeles Olympics and was a National Senior Product Manager for Verizon and was interviewed by Lou Dobbs on CNN and the NY Times for a product launch he led.

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[1] The purity of red heifer ashes (Numbers Chapter 19) is a requirement to purify priests participating in Temple rituals. Many believe this is a key to the building the Third Jewish Temple. Since the time of Moses, only nine red heifers have been sacrificed. In September 2020, five red heifers were flown from the state of Texas to the land of Israel.

[2] Romans 10:9-11, 14-15 (NIV) 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”…14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
[1] https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/record-10-minute-videos-tiktok-using-your-iphone-android-phone-0384987/

[2] https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/

[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/johanmoreno/2021/12/29/tiktok-surpasses-google-facebook-as-worlds-most-popular-web-destination/?sh=313b942543ef

[4] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/

[5] https://sociallypowerful.com/post/how-popular-is-tiktok-compared-to-other-social-media-sites

[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58464745

[7] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/03/6-facts-about-americans-and-tiktok/

[8] https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/social-media-marketing-blog/tiktok-vs-other-social-platforms-a-comparative-analysis/

[9] https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/social-media-marketing-blog/tiktok-vs-other-social-platforms-a-comparative-analysis/

[10] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/

[11] https://takumi.com/insight/tiktok-vs-other-social-media-platforms

[12] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/09/mcconnell-senate-tiktok-ban-congress/73259695007/

[13] https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/tech/tiktok-ban-us-bill-explained/index.html

[14] https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/15/tech/bytedance-employee-lawsuit-china-data-intl-hnk/index.html

[15] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/14/trump-tiktok-ban-opinion-change-explained/72945840007/

[16] https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/03/banning_tiktok_empowers_censors.html

[17] https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/03/banning_tiktok_empowers_censors.html

[18] https://thefederalist.com/2023/10/18/viral-meme-maker-who-joked-about-hillary-clinton-sentenced-to-7-months- in-prison-for-election-interference/

[19] https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/6/16/23762403/data-odni-report-wyden

[20] https://www.vox.com/culture/23660355/tiktok-ban-cultural-impact

[21] https://www.bustle.com/life/christian-tiktok-influencers-gen-z-evangelicalism

[22] https://joehoft.com/the-underdog-report-should-we-obey-god-or-man/