The history of the global internet is also the history of local apps striving to make it big and realize the promise of global connectivity. The digital applications we now have in abundance stand on the graves of numerous platforms, applications, environments, products, and tools that were once popular.
It reminds me of the world before Google. The only way to find reliable information online was through P2P networks, where links to discussion forums that were more than just digital dumpster fires were carefully maintained. There was a time before Facebook when we were just discovering blogs and finding communities experimenting with user-generated content. Before Twitter, there was plenty of space on the internet to be fueled by anger and hatred. We didn’t have to wait for Instagram to come along and let us be bullied, rejected, and sexualized. There was plenty of space available to anyone who wanted it, where the most vulnerable were constantly being violated and attacked.
Our social media practices are so overwhelming and all-encompassing that we forget how new and temporary it is. Many legacy apps have already been discontinued. The more permanent ones have evolved to the point that they bear little resemblance to the original version. The breathless atmosphere of innovation and disruption, and the desperate search for something new, constantly bombards us with the next big thing that makes everything else obsolete. Once the hype fades, the initial curiosity wanes, and most of these disruptors find their space within the digital ecosystem, scrolling more or less.
If there’s one unwritten rule of the Internet, rooted in an economy of information and attention, it’s that it too will be abolished. Apps come and go in a digital life cycle that’s more like a fruit fly than a turtle. Given the ephemeral nature of these apps, it is surprising that so many governments around the world continue to try to control TikTok, an app that has recently grown in popularity. India is already mourning the death of TikTok and has taken over the mindless, repetitive, meme-driven, interactive video platform space it ushered in, with a slew of new and old apps evolving to take its place.
The Indian users who were devastated when the app was first banned have all survived this huge loss, including the hyperbolic analysts and speculators who warned it was the beginning of the end. With the US government currently considering banning TikTok, the question has resurfaced: What is it about TikTok that seems to bother so many people so deeply? Common discussions about the broken internet — misinformation, manipulative algorithms, immersive and frivolous content that shapes political decisions, rampant hatred and violence, the radicalization of young people for ideological reasons, and the exploitation of users through data sales. Exploitation, targeted messaging that makes people vulnerable AI analytics and social polarization reinforced by filter bubbles will not work. This is because TikTok has no exclusivity or uniqueness in any of these. If these are the reasons why his TikTok has to be banned, we might as well shut down the internet, put on our tinfoil hats and wait for the jubilation.
There is nothing exceptional about TikTok and its policies around content curation, data brokerage and ownership, and the promotion of attention-grabbing scrolls that take people away from real life and its challenges. In fact, TikTok’s accelerating success has led nearly every other social media platform to naturalize these practices, leaving you with little choice when it comes to spending money on donuts.
So what can we say about the attacks, bans, and demonization of TikTok beyond the obvious geopolitics of its Chinese origins? The internet may seem like a post-sovereignty technology, but borders If we accept that countries bordering TikTok continue to significantly reproduce and reshape digital, is there more to discuss? One thing the global discussion on TikTok has to offer is that , perhaps a change in the relationship between the state and digital platforms.
For a long time, driven in particular by neoliberal economic rhetoric, technology platforms have been presented to us as independent market entities that negotiate with different governments and authorities in their localization. What TikTok shows us is that platforms are not just regulated by governments. They are how governments are platformed. The highly scalable nature of digital platforms makes them more than just a medium or a tool. In fact, they are how governments are formed and consumed on a global scale.
TikTok’s restrictions may be geopolitical, but it’s not because it originates from or is made in China. That’s because TikTok is China, making it impossible to separate government agendas, policies, and practices from the intentions and proliferation of these digital platforms. Whether TikTok meets an untimely death or not, this marks a milestone in the end of the internet’s global moment and an acceptance that our digital platforms will be treated less as media and more as stand-ins for governments and communities. It should be. where they are from.
The author is Professor of Global Media at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a teaching assistant at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
© Indian Express Private Limited
Date first uploaded: March 21, 2024, 07:36 IST
