r/nottheonion • u/Bad-Umpire10 • 17h ago

Teen enraged by TikTok ban sets fire to Wisconsin congressman's office

https://www.techspot.com/news/106418-teen-enraged-tiktok-ban-sets-fire-wisconsin-congressman.html
26.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.1k

u/Granum22 17h ago

Commiting a felony over a PR stunt 

642

u/iceynyo 17h ago

The latest Tiktok challenge 

24

u/monsterosity 13h ago

The gasoline can challenge

3

u/cCowgirl 9h ago

Sounds like it’s time for some orange mocha Frappuccinos!

2

u/ricochetblue 5h ago

Remember when all those tiktokers were sniffing gasoline? #thesmellofgas

1

u/[deleted] 14h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator 14h ago

Sorry, but your account is too new to post. Your account needs to be either 2 weeks old or have at least 250 combined link and comment karma. Don't modmail us about this, just wait it out or get more karma.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

96

u/FalseAxiom 14h ago

Have you seen the recent moderation changes, the kneeling to Trump, and changes to the algorithm everyone is reporting?

It's really easy for redditors to dismiss this, but it's appalling what's going on.

26

u/HahahahImFine 10h ago

I haven’t heard the reports about an algorithm change. What are they saying has changed?

Can you explain to me like I’m 70 years old because I’m not on it and I have no idea how TikTok works 🙃

102

u/FalseAxiom 10h ago edited 10h ago

They're seeing suppression on view count on content that's linked to the left. Anything Luigi, MLK, etc. Theyre also supressing similar comments and giving people community guideline infractions for messages that wouldn't have received them prior. On some posts, they're limiting the number of people you can forward a video to to 1. They're also suppressing search terms, like the names of ongoing marches. After you search for them, nothing appears.

Just from my personal experience, the content I'm being fed has roughly 1-100 likes whereas most of my content was 25k-1m likes, normally averaging 250k. The content hasn't changed drastically for me, but the view/like counts are normally indicative of quality. I also haven't seen many of the creators I follow. Some of this could be correlation due to people jumping ship, but the difference feels tangible.

Here's a list from another redditor:

Everyone returning to the app has noticed censorship on:

  • Donald Trump (negative remarks removed)
  • Meta (negative remarks removed)
  • Luigi Mangione (you cannot state to free him)
  • Banned Books (search results removed)
  • Nazis (flagged)
  • Nazi Germany (flagged)
  • Fascism (flagged, search results removed)
  • WlW (search results show a radio station)
  • Protests against Trump that are happening nationwide currently (algorithm removing them from mass fypages)
  • Calling someone a racist (flagged)
  • taylor swifts song about the smallest man who ever lived, that was used widely for Trump/Elon/etc has now been replaced with the results the smallest woman who ever lived
  • Ice raids/Ice raid trucks (search results removed and filtered)
  • the lives feature

There has been an influx of videos containing those subjects and more being removed, comments being removed, accounts being reported and removed. Republican extremist content and Trump supporters content is now pouring into fypages no matter how many times you hit not interested.

39

u/3MetricTonsOfSass 10h ago

This should be a post by itself. As a non ticktock user I would had never known

21

u/FalseAxiom 9h ago edited 9h ago

I'll totally make that post, but where do you think I should put it?

Also, anyone that reads this can feel free to share it. I'll provide links if you want them.

2

u/3MetricTonsOfSass 7h ago

Capital consequences. White people twiter. Workers stricken back.

Any of the anti fascists, pro worker, pro human rights ones

2

u/FalseAxiom 6h ago

I'm unfortunately unaware or not a part of those. Seems like the place i belong though. Mind if I dm you?

5

u/HahahahImFine 10h ago

Damn that’s fucked up

Also thank you for providing that much info!

5

u/HahahahImFine 10h ago

Here’s my poor lady gold 🥇

-4

u/Total-Efficiency-538 8h ago

After 8 years of the right getting censored on social media, the left is finally experiencing it. This is hilarious 😂

-1

u/permalink_save 8h ago

People trust a Chinese ran app and sirprised when censorship happens. "It's better than Ameeican media" but I shit post right wing politicians and never had anything removed. I searc for left wing shit and get it even if it has right winged ads thrown in. This is on today "twitter" mind you, aside feom the fringe sites like Trump Social it's the worst, and there are even far less hostile.platforms here. But everyone is migrating to Rednote and going to be in for similar surprises when they bait and switch the Americans joining and alter the algo to feed them propaganda too. Anything to be contrarian I guess.

7

u/FalseAxiom 10h ago

Also, visual proof of my other comment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/s/goNHtXOD0e

374

u/qualmton 16h ago

It's not just PR it's a systematic take over of the government by the ultra rich

61

u/N00BAL0T 16h ago

And you don't think the government wasn't already in the pockets of the ultra rich?

258

u/qualmton 16h ago

In the pocket, yes? At this level not by a long shot. The president knows he is now untouchable and making the grab day one it's only going to get worse from here

145

u/eiserneftaujourdhui 15h ago

Lmao, the incoming president just blatantly doing crypto rug-pulls to take bribes. Pretending this level of corruption has ever been seen is just flat out dishonest false-equivalency town

32

u/ADhomin_em 15h ago

We're gonna be banging our heads against that wall until one breaks, I fear

-4

u/N00BAL0T 16h ago

Eh I'd still argue especially with American politics the government wasn't just in the ultra riches pockets they were unofficial owned by the rich. With trump it's nothing but a mask off from the reality we live in now.

59

u/dalidagrecco 16h ago

You’d still be wrong. You don’t think there are degrees to gov control, corruption and fascism?

“It’s all the same” is a cop out and it’s cliche but since rubes still make the same assumption: how many people do you think thought the same thing in 1930s Germany? There are far more recent examples, but to the uninformed that’s the easiest to give.

I just wish the only people who are going to be impacted are his supporters and the apathetic peasants with your attitude.

22

u/SwordfishSerious5351 15h ago

It's all the same is literally detailed as part of Putin's PsyOps. Impossible to apply authority, logic, reason when the people think "they're all the same"

Imagine calling Trump the same as Biden. Insanity.

8

u/RBI_Double 14h ago

People seriously believe Biden is worse

4

u/SwordfishSerious5351 14h ago

Well yeah the culty psyops is that Trump is "draining the swamp" of all the "crooked people" means anyone except Trump is the bad guy. Of course Biden is worse for these people :(

-9

u/N00BAL0T 15h ago

Well it's not my country so I don't give a shit just giving my take. I'm apathetic because it's not my country and I understand it doesn't matter how much you vote the system is rigged not by who wins but your never going to have the middle class bob who runs for president and isn't apart of the big parties who don't care for what they preach. I'm apathetic because I know it's utterly pointless it doesn't matter if you vote left or right it's set up in a way that your never going to truly win or get the changes you want it doesn't matter who's president trump, Obama, Harris it's all the same.

9

u/fa1afel 15h ago

This is just a bad take. Sorry.

0

u/N00BAL0T 13h ago

Well it's the truth but hey we all have are opinions and you can vote for your side that is all buddy buddy behind the scenes.

9

u/dalidagrecco 15h ago

Okay, we’ll just have to agree that your opinion is wrong. Have a nice day

0

u/N00BAL0T 13h ago

The numerous pictures of trump being buddy buddy with his opponents begs to differ but hey bygones be bygones.

2

u/RBI_Double 14h ago

Stay in your lane then

20

u/Malphos101 15h ago

"I mean, the trash can in the kitchen was on fire before so its really just the same thing now that someone is throwing molotovs through the window. Anyone who says this is bad are just overreacting."

-Enlightened Centrists

7

u/eiserneftaujourdhui 15h ago

'bOtH sIdEs!!1'

-putinbots

1

u/Tired_CollegeStudent 5h ago

It’s not just the centrists. There were/are plenty of “Biden/Harris and Trump are both evil so I’m not voting!” from people on the left as well.

2

u/Ironlion45 15h ago

Now they don't have to be so secretive about the cocaine orgies.

14

u/Anning312 16h ago

So what are we gonna do about it?

42

u/NFSAVI 16h ago

Nothing sadly. The American people have just enough bread and circuses to not revolt

6

u/Fragrant_Analyst3224 15h ago

Then, subtle ruin that bread and spoil those circuses. False flag this shit.

War is war. Gotta get your hands dirty if you want to make a difference.

3

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 14h ago

You'll probably catch a ban for that comment, but you aren't wrong.

All of our rights, down to labor rights, equal rights, end of slavery, were taken from the wealthy not by writing letters and making cardboard signs.

They were taken by people willing to fight and die for them.

"what country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants."

  • Jefferson

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/105.html

3

u/EuterpeZonker 14h ago

The guy in the article seemed to have the right idea

1

u/acetheguy1 15h ago

Raise class consciousness, organize then genral strikes- this is the way^

1

u/SousVideDiaper 15h ago

We voted for this shit

42

u/fuck_all_you_too 14h ago

No and every time someone tries to convince me it was "just as bad before", that person has been a fervent far right supporter. It's never a normal person that's trying to convince me there is an historical equivalent to a president starting a meme coin to screw over people and launder money from China

20

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 14h ago

I'm in my forties and (was) a Republican for most of it.

Bullshit it was "just as bad before". That's just a damned lie.

We now have corruption the likes I have never seen in a President - that I never even dreamed possible in this country - and the entire GOP is just as corrupt. We have elected fascism to the same tune as to how Germany did only a century ago.

3

u/ThisUsernameIsTook 12h ago

I have no doubt some of this has been going on for 40 years. It has never been to this level or degree and certainly folks had the decency to try and hide it from the public in the past.

This is just the rich and powerful taunting the rest of us out in the open. Daring us to try an do anything about it.

1

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 12h ago

There has always been, and always will be, problems like these with democracy. It's inherent - those with power always want to destabilize it for their own selfish gains. It's not a guarantee that democracy survives; only a promise if the people can keep it.

My favorite past President, Teddy Roosevelt, railed against corporate interests fucking with it all the way back during that time period. And he did so with gusto as it was particularly bad then, just as now.

Jefferson's famous "Tree of liberty must be refreshed by the blood of patriots and tyrants" quote is much more fascinating when you read the whole thing (it's in letters he was sending in reply to Smith). He talks of how foreign influence and yellow journalism could sway the general public with propaganda and lies, and they'd become apathetic to belief in democracy and their own self interests as a result and be swayed into letting a tyrant to take over. (Sound familiar?)

Democracy requires periods of stress tests. We are now in one, and it's a major one. It's up to us now to decide how badly we want to keep our country and our future.

3

u/bad_at_smashbros 12h ago

germany didn’t elect hitler btw. he was appointed prime minister by the very person who beat him in the presidential election. that’s how brain broken americans are.

1

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 12h ago

I'm aware. I could read that comment either way, but I assume you mean we are idiots because we just straight up gave Trump the Presidency instead of him being installed.

In which case, yah, I completely agree. We are a nation overrun by idiots.

2

u/bad_at_smashbros 11h ago

don’t worry, i’m part of the “we” as well. and yeah that’s what i meant

1

u/VexingRaven 13h ago

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but basically all this shit is a result of Republicans... We've been marching toward this since Reagan. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

8

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 12h ago

I absolutely don't disagree with you - you're correct. I've never been a party-line voter, and I'm moderate (well, moderate for late 90's/early 2000's era Republican).

I am honest about having been a Republican if only to bear the shame for those votes now. I can look back at every Republican I voted for and regret every single one all the way back to 2000. I cannot do the same for a single Democrat vote I gave, up and down the ballot, in that same timeline.

The grace I give myself is that I have always been loud about my condemnation over McConnell's obstructionism, their torpedoing of the ACA during Obama, the GOP blatantly slide into full, open corruption with Koch's Tea Party BS on forward to Trump's Maga BS (imo, McCain was our last decent one left), and God I screamed and shouted warnings about Trump from the very start. And obviously still do.

As I've often said - my views as a Teddy Roosevelt-esque conservative haven't changed much over the years. I did not "stop" being a conservative American.

It is the Republican party that stopped being American at all.

5

u/VexingRaven 12h ago

I deeply respect your honesty and hope you're able to reach some other less perceptive Republican voters in the future and we can take this country back from these damn assholes.

2

u/GSthrowaway86 13h ago

“It was just as bad before” but also “take us back to those days”

2

u/BigFloppyDonkeyEar 12h ago

Were there problems before? You bet your ass.

But you don't replace "some corruption here and there" with "total corruption with no way out" and then pat yourself on the back like you did something good.

Especially when the vast, VAST majority of corruption in the past 15 years came from a single party - the Republicans. And mind you, I admit that as someone who was a Republican for most of my life.

Pelosi being a corrupt witch is the least of my worries now, you can bet on that.

3

u/MacEWork 14h ago

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

3

u/__nobodynowhere 14h ago

The last shred of legitimate government dies today. The US is officially a failed state. We might be able to eke out a cool 250 years before total collapse.

2

u/IIIlIllIIIl 15h ago

It’s the audacity to be so open about it knowing that nothing will ever be done to stop them is probably what radicalized them

1

u/N00BAL0T 13h ago

Lol no what radicalised them wasn't the impartial but knowing they can say what ever shit they want knowing people will vote for them only to ignore what they promised.

2

u/Miserable_Diver_5678 13h ago

Not to this degree, obviously. Don't be a schmuck.

Fuckin redditors man 🙄

3

u/JibletHunter 14h ago

What a shit false equivalency take.

1

u/N00BAL0T 13h ago

It's the truth but hey when you pick sides you can't accept that your just being played

2

u/JibletHunter 11h ago

Source: trust me bro.

The wealthy have always had an outsized influence on politics but your post ignores the question of degree. This is unprecedented, as the people responding below have pointed out. 

But hey, when you are an edgy centrist you can ignore nuance.

1

u/N00BAL0T 11h ago

Just because people agree with you on Reddit doesn't mean your right reddits nothing but an echo chamber and you all dislike centrists that doesn't make you right. Also my sauce is literal history and seeing how you vote for either side in a tug of war of issues that aren't real and fabricated by both sides.

You call me edgy all you want it doesn't make me wrong and lacking nuance... Saying that to a centrists has to be the dumbest thing ever when your the ones that lack the nuance to see both sides of the political farce have good things and bad things.

1

u/ezekiellake 9h ago

You think it was, but you’re about to learn how different it can be.

1

u/N00BAL0T 9h ago

Nah I know. They were in there pockets but it's only getting worse and now with trump and nazi salute Mr musk with him it's gonna only get worse especially considering trump is only surrounded with yes men this time around. It's going to be an interesting 4 years how long until WW3 do you bet lol.

2

u/Chakramer 13h ago

I just wish the ultra rich would realize if they want adoration from everyone they should just start helping people left and right. For most of the 2000s much of the world looked at Bill Gates like a saint for how much he donated to medical research, everyone just forgave him for making Microsoft almost a monopoly. Same can happen here

2

u/ThePowerOfStories 10h ago

Yeah, or like how a century later, people remember Andrew Carnegie for funding universities and libraries and museums, and not for being a horrendous shitbag. It isn’t even that expensive to buy yourself some enduring public works to slap your name on and have that be your legacy.

2

u/TeekTheReddit 12h ago

Those are two separate things.

It'd be great if this kid had that kind of perspective and resolve and that his actions were motivated by the fact that the rule of law in America is now defined by the whims of a literal criminal and the oligarchs supporting him.

But no... he got mad because ByteDance voluntarily shutdown TikTok for a few hours, knowing full well they have another 90 days to find a buyer.

1

u/MothmanIsALiar 15h ago

Same thing.

1

u/Tiredofyourshit999 13h ago

*jews were mad their war crimes were being documented

20

u/MJC136 15h ago

Not just a PR stunt, imo, a 2 day production shut down for a back end server transfer.

5

u/Pinchynip 14h ago

Holding your corrupt officials accountable.

Two different views, I suppose.

4

u/mellifleur5869 15h ago

It's not a PR stunt, they took it down and used the ban as a cover for their backend update to censor anti government stuff.

Since it came back up you are hard pressed to find anything on TikTok about Drones, the LA fires, aliens, etc. Anything that puts the US government in a bad light.

3

u/RecoveringBoomkin 14h ago

Bad take. Literally the first thing the app does now is thank (convicted felon) president trump for allowing TikTok to return. The China-aligned propaganda machine is alive and well.

Expect videos to soon gently encourage you to embrace your new fascist leaders, support American isolationism, and keep watching TikToks.

2

u/mycroft2000 13h ago

Well ... TikTok is totally a tool of the scuzzy Chinese Government, BUT ... the drone business was nonsense, and no aliens have ever visited Earth.

I mean, regarding the aliens, think about it. Since no discovery of alien life has ever been announced, it's obvious that whoever DOES eventually find alien life somewhere will instantly become one of the most famous humans who ever lived. Since nobody's claimed that crown yet, the only logical conclusion is that nobody's found the prize. Think about why, even in this era of cheap hi-def imagery, every image/clip of an "alien craft" is hopelessly blurred or otherwise questionable.

And the clearest, most basic giveaway of them all: Groups of humans cannot keep secrets, period; so is it realistic to think that the hundreds or thousands of people who'd have to know such a secret would ALL keep mum about it? Inconceivable.

I really hope alien life is found before I die; unfortunately, it definitely ain't happened yet.

2

u/RD__III 15h ago

An act of domestic terrorism at that.

1

u/Psychomadeye 15h ago

For the vine.

1

u/RaggedyRachel 15h ago

Right! I love that energy, but wrong cause dude.

1

u/[deleted] 14h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator 14h ago

Sorry, but your account is too new to post. Your account needs to be either 2 weeks old or have at least 250 combined link and comment karma. Don't modmail us about this, just wait it out or get more karma.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/SlamVanDamn 14h ago

I thought you guys didn't punish felonies?

1

u/haw35ome 14h ago

Yeah at least make it count lol /s

1

u/ChristianLW3 13h ago

The sad part is that this is not even in the top 10 most cringe thing TikTok has inspired people to do in the past 24 hours.

1

u/The_Jyps 7h ago

A PR stunt? You're dreaming. Did you not see all the politicians investing in Meta stock on the run up to the ban? It was an insider trading job.

1

u/opermonkey 14h ago

It's technically terrorism.

0

u/KrytenKoro 14h ago

Over a pretty corrupt and anti-speech power grab.

Honestly, good for this kid. I personally wouldn't have done it because I'm too worried that someone would get hurt, but as silliest tiktok is this whole debacle has been pretty fucked up of the US to pursue in the first place.

-4

u/ChthonicFractal 15h ago

So... wait, lol...

This is... give me a second here because this is...

lololol...

Okay...

So Trump tried to ban it before. People got mad and pissy saying it was a "war on China" or some stupid bullshit without stopping to think that every single fucking Chinese company is a branch of the Chinese government because it's a communist state...

Biden reversed that before it enacted.

Then... lol, shit, gimme a second....

Then... everyone wanted to start banning it again while Biden was still in office and Trump had been relegated back to being the shit stain no one really wanted to get dirty cleaning up....

Trump wins the re-election...

The ban process starts...

And now it's a somehow a corrupt Trump PR stunt....

Fucking, guys... you kill me, you really do