As the US TikTok ban looms, users of the app there have been posting farewell messages for their Chinese spy, satirising the security concerns behind the ban as they offer up heartfelt appreciations of the ultra-targeted content on their For You pages. There is a lot, they claim, to be grateful for: their Chinese spies have soothed and amused them, steered them towards splitting with unsuitable partners and toxic workplaces, helped them recover from divorce, changed their political perspectives and sometimes their entire lives.
A commenter below claims the algorithm knew they were gay four years before they knew themselves; another says the app accurately diagnosed them with a skin condition that two dermatologists missed. Other people are just grateful for pizza recipes and hotel room hacks.
My numerous research tangents (from scentmaxxing to coastal grandmothers and glazed doughnut skin) must confuse the algorithm for a while my spy thought I was diabetic or an orthopaedic surgeon but in recent months we've reached a good place.
There's a serious side to this—does the ban threaten freedom of expression? Should I worry more about a faceless corporate entity's control over what happens on a platform we have all grown to love?
Collection
[
|
...
]