Tik Tok Session

In this session we dissect the latest news in the Tik Tok Battle and the legislative reluctance and apparent fear of the platform. I consider whether it's a matter of misunderstanding or a tactical play to maintain control. This session also delves into the consequences that could breed distrust among voters. Lastly we review the intricacies of the political landscape and remind ourselves of the power we hold in making informed decisions and the role social media plays in shaping those decisions, especially as we approach elections.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

Peace, peace to all my good people out there. Welcome to another session with Shay. On this session I'm going to talk about TikTok. Now I know there are some people out there who have never even heard of TikTok. There's some people who've heard about it but think it's important to share some information about the bill that is currently going through Congress at this very moment and the hustle moves that Congress is doing in order to get the TikTok ban bill passed, because a lot of people don't know. There's so much confusing information and convoluted information about actually what's going on. So this session I'm going to talk about it and give some insight for you to do further research and actually, if you feel it you know, do something about the fuckery and put others on to it, because we can only do what we can do within our certain circle of energy, but we can always let other people know and let them make their own decisions on the information presented. So that's what I'm doing here right now to y'all.

Speaker 1 1:48

So so, first off, a partisan bill is in the senate. Well, it had already passed the senate, um back in march, the of course there's the House and the Senate and all that good stuff that the bill started in the House, and that bill was overwhelmingly passed in there. Now, remember, congress can't really do anything that has anything to help us. Well, I'm not going to say they can't do it, I'm sorry, let's say they haven't done it anything to help us. Well, I'm not going to say they can't do it, I'm sorry, let's say they haven't done it. They haven't been able to pass a budget for years, decades even, and that's the actual job to basically do make sure. Congress's whole job is to make sure the government stays paid. That's what all the functions within government is for. It's not necessarily it's to help the american people, but in reality, congress is supposed to fund the federal government, but the illusion is that the federal government controls everything, but instead the people are actually the ones that should be controlling what the government does. But nevertheless, circling back, the Senate already has this particular bill that was voted upon already before in the House. That's not what I'm talking about, though. So yesterday, the House created a bill tying the banning of TikTok to an aid bill for Ukraine. They basically so. What they couldn't do was get it passed cleanly. So they said, ok, well, since we can't put forth a bill to say openly that this is what we want to do and we won't get the votes for that. Let's just sneak it into some shit that you're going to have to vote for anyway, and it's going.

Speaker 1 4:06

The VP of TikTok and he stated that number one, china doesn't have access to user data and number two, china doesn't influence American viewpoints, american thought points, american thought patterns, which is a bold statement to say anyway, because that's basically saying that, oh, china is such a powerful and manipulative nation that they can put their manipulation on Americans and Americans are so dumb and blind to shit they're not going to see it. That's what they're ins data and all that shit. The VP basically said that the data is actually stored in Texas, texas, y'all in the US, that data that Congress is so worried that China is going to get, that. They are worried about the data that's already here to get that. They are worried about the data that's already here. And not only is all that data stored in Texas, it's controlled by a whole team of Americans. So, to backtrack, congress is saying that TikTok is bad because China can get our data and China can influence American patterns and viewpoints. However, the fact is this is from the VP their servers in Texas, united States. The team all Americans in the United States and they have a third party that checks all of the data and all of the processes, which is Oracle. Oracle is a US based company, so all of the people that work there are US. Well, not all the people that work there, I don't know that for a fact, but the team that's directly controlled, that's in charge of controlling TikTok data, is American. It's in America and the third party that checks it is an American team.

Speaker 1 6:34

That's why the hustle of what the politicians are, if the politicians actually address the issues Like they really have and said that you know, like they did that, like they've done with Facebook and IG and and Google and all of those people, they brought their asses to Congress and they asked them the question of do you, do you know how to protect data or have you been stealing data? Data and what the Facebook and Google and all those people say. They say we try our best, but they didn't give the specifics that TikTok has been giving, because TikTok already know they're trying to get them. So they didn't ban the Facebooks and the IGs and the Googles when they couldn't come up with comprehensive data point safety and security. No, no, they just let them go and say don't do that again. Wonder why?

Speaker 1 7:39

But TikTok saw all of this and they said you know what? We're not going to be them. We're going to be a step above all that stuff. I said, with the third party checkers, oracle, coming behind them, that's not like a mandated thing, that's an option. And they chose to have that in place because the security of data matters more to them than it does to the Facebooks and the IGs and all those places. And so so they said you know what? We're going to go above and beyond and do these things and while we do that, hopefully it becomes a mandatory thing, because if privacy, data security or privacy and data is important, why not make it seem like it's important? And that security system is. It's called Project Texas, which is run by a subsidiary of TikTok, so they own that company that does it for them. But, like I said, they have third party checkers that check on their own stuff. Like I said, they have third party checkers that check on their own stuff, so it's as above board as they can make it and it's as transparent as it can be without like just doing the most you know, and it's a hell of a lot more than all the rest of these social media is doing so, but that security system cost them $2 billion to do or to, to pay for, to create, and, as of 20, as of 2022, all the data is stored there in Texas, ran it run by those Americans, that's third party, checked by those third party companies.

Speaker 1 9:32

I, I, I'm trying to figure out here now, though, if Congress knows all of this, why are they still going down that path? Like if your major beef with someone is the fact that they wear yellow shirts and they say, okay, well, I will never wear another piece of yellow shirt, I won't another, I won't wear another yellow shirt ever again, but I'll go above and beyond that. I won't even wear yellow shoes. Matter of fact, I won't even wear yellow hats or sunglasses or anything like that, just because you don't like yellow. And then you say it doesn't matter, you did all that. I still don't like, I still don't like you wearing yellow shirts, so I'm gonna make you get out of here.

Speaker 1 10:16

So tiktok is doing all of this basically for nothing, because the government is just just really hyper focused on them being banned or, in their words, being divested and having having American interests being controlled by Americans, which on the surface that sounds pretty dope. You know, we control what affects us the most, but in this very instance, we kind of sort of are controlling it, but the government is trying to do other things in order for certain other things to go down. But we'll get into that, let me. Let me get back to this. So back to Oracle. So the whole point of Oracle again a U S based company, a U S created company, a U S controlled company. The whole point of Oracle is to actually um, check, specifically check, all of the things that Tik, tok or this company uh, it's called USDS, united States Data Security. That's what USDS stands for. They won't go back to USDS and their whole job is to check the algorithm, to check to make sure the data is secure, to make sure that the data is being transferred the way it's being transferred, all of the things that Congress is worried about.

Speaker 1 11:51

Oracle, that third party checker, is doing those things and has told them that's what they are doing, but yet Congress is still like, nah, we don't trust it. Or it doesn't matter that you're doing all these things above and beyond. We just don't like you. You just can't sit here and, to be honest, I feel like all companies could and should do this for transparency. And it could be such an easy fix if Congress would be like OK, you know what? We are being kind of extra with TikTok, let's let's create legislation that's actually going to say this is what has to happen for security and data for Americans. You can actually pass legislation, congress could, and say you have to secure the data this way, you have to third party check it this way, and if you don't comply with it because we agree that this is a safe way if you don't comply with it, then there's a possibility that you have to go to this route of divestment or sellage exactly what TikTok is going through. But they're not going to do that because guess what? That's too much like, right, that's too much doing a job that they got paid there to do or sent there to do and get paid to do actually.

Speaker 1 13:21

But the really shitty part about it is that when the Congress people are asked you know, why are you banning TikTok or what's the reason, or why do you support it, they really don't say why. Nor do they say why they the companies like the USDS and Oracle and all of those people they're good enough for other people to do that same job for, and all of those people they're good enough for other people to do that same job for, but they're not good enough to protect the data that TikTok supposedly is sending to China. They're not saying why they don't trust that and if they do say something, it'll be national security. And then when they, when, when it's asked well, what do you mean national security? That's classified, that's it. That's how they placate us. That's how they make it seem as though, oh, the American people are so dense and so dumb that they can't know classified information without getting into a tizzy, which is really weird. But when people are put into positions of power like that, they start to think that that shit is what it is because they've been doing it for so long and it's been accepted. So why else would they think anything differently? Would they think anything differently? Their blanket, blanket answer for things is that China shouldn't have our data and they shouldn't have the ability to control or influence Americans.

Speaker 1 14:56

And lastly, in this interview, the vice president of TikTok said that the misinformation is crazy right now. Like I said at the beginning of this, it's all over the place, depending on who you ask or how much knowledge you actually have about TikTok and what's going on with it. He basically said if Congress, or if Congress or leadership have questions about data security and transparency of the algorithm or how the code works, they have already addressed it and technically they've gone above and beyond all that Well, everything that any other social media is doing. And they actually are wanting to do more, but Congress isn't budging. Wanting to do more, but congress isn't budging. Now, the main reason why I think congress isn't budging because they're a bunch of old motherfuckers and they're a bunch of old white motherfuckers and it's so telling how much of this that they don't understand. They're just going to run away and say it's bad. It's bad like straight fucking cheap. But it's very telling on the vice president saying you know the vice president of TikTok, not America TikTok. It's telling as fuck as when he says you know, we've told them all the things. If you have a question about the algorithm, the privacy, yada, yada, all of that, just come to us and ask us and we'll let you know what it is.

Speaker 1 16:32

Congress, one doesn't want to feel like they don't understand shit too. They don't want to feel like they're too old to understand shit. And three, they don't want to make it seem like they're not in control of the situation. And when you start asking questions, that's depending upon how you ask a question and how you ingest the response. It depends on how much power you have in a conversation. Congress needs that in order to keep that level of I guess thought that they still have that power.

Speaker 1 17:04

So what is it going to look like if they go to these people and say, yeah, explain what an algorithm is, and of course they'll explain it to them. But then they'll also be like well, you should know these things too, because not only are you voting on something that you're saying is an issue, you don't know, even know what the fuck it is. Issue you don't know even know what the fuck it is. I bet you, if you ask a just a handful of people in congress actually what an algorithm is and what it does and why they're so afraid of it, probably won't even tell you what it is. Dog data security. They know what the words mean separately, but I doubt they know what they mean together.

Speaker 1 17:51

And that whole second part about their whole issue of it is they don't want China to be able to influence Americans, or American thought patterns, is how they put it. Americans, or American thought patterns is how they put it. So, again, they are so convinced that we, the American people, are so easily convinced of what China wants us to be convinced about. They are willing to say we need to control it because you can't. Even though because we've already went over this all of that data is already being stored at the US, in the US, on US soil, with US people. So how sway is the data not safe if it's here with our people, controlled by our people? Like again, I feel like this is just something that they are trying to make, a thing but not really a thing, and I think they're just using this as some other shit in order to control the mindset and actually try to move a chess piece.

Speaker 1 19:08

I'll get to that later too, but ultimately, it's like, if Congress really has a problem with this, they could pass, they could pass a law, they could pass comprehensive data security legislation, but they choose not to. They choose to just ban it and be done with it. Is that lazy of them? Is that ignorant of them? Is that kind of out of your job scope? A little bit, but nevertheless, the vice president of TikTok said that they're going to keep fighting and if Congress chooses not to compromise, then they'll just keep trying again. They'll keep trying other avenues to do such. Now here's how Congress is actually trying to flip this. I gave you the history. I gave you actually what TikTok is and what they're trying to do and where the data is going and what Congress's actual beef is with them.

Speaker 1 20:10

Now the shit that just happened the other day is uh, congress is actually trying to attach the second, the second try of a TikTok ban in a spending package bill. Now, like I said at the beginning, the first bill is already at the Senate. It was already voted on by the House. But the first bill is at the Senate now and the Senate is probably going to sit there. It's probably going to sit there for a while. Now the House Republicans more specific, the Speaker of the House he's saying that's going to take too long. We need TikTok banned now.

Speaker 1 20:51

And what's the easiest way to do? It? Slip it into a bill that you have to pass, because if it doesn't pass, that's going to cause a whole lot of other fucking dominoes to fall down. So you have to pass it. So a little backup the senate sent the senate actually approved 95 billion dollars in aid to um to the countries of taiwan, ukraine and israel. The senate passed this last week. But of course, course, if the Senate does something, it has to go back to the House and then, once the House votes upon it, then it goes to the president. He signs it or not signs it. If he signs it it becomes a bill. Boom. The Senate created this.

Speaker 1 21:39

So it started in the Senate and they sent it down to the House and said, hey, 95 billion is going to be spread around to Taiwan, israel and Ukraine signing. And the House was like, nah, we want you to separate it and line item each thing and line item how much each country is supposed to get and if they're going to vote on it and if they're going to see if they should get support. So they split the three bills up and for the first bill, for Ukraine, they were supposed to get $26 billion. They're also supposed to get $9 billion for humanitarian relief, but the Republicans slid that in extra because the next thing they put underneath of that was the TikTok ban. So they couldn't get it to pass. They couldn get a tiktok ban to pass on its own. So instead of doing that, they said you know what we're done with all that. We're going to make you vote for this because you have to, not necessarily because you want to. That's's in their minds, I'm gathering.

Speaker 1 23:07

So they put it in a must pass bill and they also added language for stricter sanctions on China, for China and Iran and Russia, and it would allow them, the US, to sell all the assets that they've already seized from rich Russian people, or rich Russian oligarchs, as it were. Now that's just for that. They signed a 26 billion dollar bill for Israel. They're giving nine billion billion for humanitarian aid. They're seizing assets and they're doing more sanctions. Absolutely none of that stuff went to border security for the United States. Absolutely none of it went to housing inflation. None of that shit. Nothing that helps United States, american citizens any, any and every day. So this will probably be on Biden's desk Saturday, if not Friday. Today is April 19th, if you're listening to this later, saturday's 420 and it'll probably be on Biden's desk and he will probably sign it because he's said it in the past.

Speaker 1 24:38

He's against TikTok and all that TikTok is, and you know Congress assumes we're all going to get over it since, technically speaking, the way that the bill is written, it'll keep going for six months. Tiktok has six months to find a new buyer and divest their interests from the Chinese. But, as we've listened to previously, that's not the case, because how do you divest your interest if the interest is already controlled by the United States? And they're hoping that we won't be bothered, that they forced a company to sell because of security and algorithms and all that shit, when we already know that's not the case, because we technically control all of that shit. So they're hoping that we won't remember and we'll be OK. And what's six months from now, everybody? It's April, it's right before election time and right before election time TikTok is going to go away. That is a major information distributor, as it were, right before a pivotal presidential election. Chess move.

Speaker 1 26:16

Just saying I mean, I'm just saying that's what I see and that's ultimately. I think the goal is to break down a certain level of trust in government and voting. Let's be honest. I've said it in several other sessions I don't vote either way for a particular party or a particular candidate. Nine times out of 10, they're always the same level as trash is. I vote for initiatives and ballot shit that goes on or is important in my local community. That's what I vote for and this, what they're doing right now is literally breaking up, breaking a level of trust that the people have with the government.

Speaker 1 27:22

Honestly, I mean, if you think what you think about the whole level of voting and your voice matters and be involved and you know you can make the difference, and all that good shit, all that good shit can make the difference and all that good shit. All that good shit. If you say all that is what it is, and then okay, you do all those things and the people say that we don't want tiktok to be banned and then you still do it. The people are gonna be like like, well, fuck it, what's the point? And not mind you, it wasn't just a little bit. Amount of people. 200 million people use TikTok, more specifically, 48 million Americans, and out of those 48 million Americans, there are over 6 million small business owners on TikTok. Three of three million of them are Americans. So some of these people that actually matter and actually contribute to the GDP of the United States of America are literally having their voice silenced because y'all want to say it's classified or y'all want to say, china's influencing Americans.

Speaker 1 28:52

Only thing I see is that the government is actually literally making your vote not matter, especially if you voted for a specific, or especially if you voted for a particular candidate, and they said all the good things that made you think that they were going to do the things that you voted for them for, and they did absolutely nothing. What does that say about the political system? And what did Congress actually do when we, the people, said no, don't do it. And they couldn't pass actual legislation. They couldn't actually do the job that we asked them to do. They took the shady route and put it in some shit that had to be passed. That's what they did. They couldn't put it on real shit, so they put it on shady shit. They could have put it on actual data privacy or actual comprehensive transparency through the data security system or process. No, they couldn't put it on real shit like that. They couldn't pass it, let's say, because they didn't understand. They don't understand it.

Speaker 1 30:15

So, in order for them not to exude any brain, energy or research or even like I look at it as though Congress people, all you have to do is say you are a senator or a governor or whatever. You can get the best experts in any field and have them come talk to you. Have them come explain to you directly in the way that you can understand it, so you, as the congressperson, can have better understanding of the shit that you actually have to vote on. That's what I would do. Not that I'm running for that shit, not a political ploy or none of that shit. All I'm saying is that if you are a person that has to make these kind of decisions, why not reach out to the people that have the knowledge and you could get it too and you can make sound fucking decisions, but they choose not to do that. They choose to just yeah, somebody else told me that it's not safe, so it's not safe, and we're going to do what we feel is best Because we are us.

Speaker 1 31:27

All this shit is doing is just making the people distrust government more. And the people that already, the people that may not trust the government now they really don't fucking trust them now and the ones that actually had twinkles of like oh, democracy is this? All you have to go out there is is vote and make your voice heard. And this, those people, those people right there, they're really hurt, they really are sad at the way that the process has gotten and how much they were lied to, but some of us already knew that. So it it it does feel kind of purposefully done, though I feel like it's purposefully done to votes of a certain group of people that are going to vote a certain kind of way, because the hat told them to. I'm not going to put any type of names, but you can read between the lines with that one. So if all of the people who would vote a certain way are no longer present to vote that way, how do you think the votes will go? And I look. If you choose not to vote, that's cool.

Speaker 1 33:04

Like I've said several times before, I don't vote for president because, depending on who you ask, that shit is already like laid out years beforehand and the president is just a puppet anyway. He's just a figurehead of such. He don't really want shit, um, but it's gonna mess up the most to the people that have to. Or the stuff on the ballots, the ballot initiatives and the ballot questions in states, like stuff for like access to abortion and legal weed and minimum wage and tax increases or decreases, like wage increases for, like teachers and firefighters, like if people don't trust the system, they're not going to go vote in it no more. If people don't trust the, the people that are elected to do what they ask them to do, they're not going to show up no more. And that's the consequence of what's about to happen here.

Speaker 1 34:08

I think, like the major chess moves being made on this one is some serious shit, because not only did they get TikTok banned a level of information because getting getting put out at a critical point of time, right before an election and they did it so far in advance that people forgot that it was going to happen. Now, I'm sure, like a month before or maybe a couple of weeks before, it's going to be flooded everywhere. Tiktok's about to go away. All of this, all of this, but right now, in the calm before the storm, nobody's going to think about it. Now, in the calm before the storm, nobody's gonna think about it. They're just gonna assume that government continued on because the spent, the spending bills, will go forth and they will give the monies out to the countries and do the tings with the tings, but all of this stuff will continue. But in the background, it's really like a ticking time bomb.

Importance of Voting and TikTok Appreciation

Speaker 1 35:27

So, um, while I don't condone voting for the shit that matters to you in your community locally, and at least have your voice heard on some shit that you can't control locally with your ballot questions and your initiatives, if you want to venture out to the other, like the council members and the school board, you should, because those people are directly involved in your community the laws and bills and taxes and all that shit that's set in your particular community. You're goddamn right, you should know who those people are, but it's up to you, as a voter, to do some research on them. Motherfuckers, as a voter, to do some research on them. Motherfuckers, don't just vote on them based on their party or their skin color or their their, if they're a man or a woman or whatever. If you choose to vote for them that way, that's cool too, but there's a consequence with not having enough informed information when you make decisions upon shit, too, but I digress. Information when you make decisions upon shit, too, but I digress.

Speaker 1 36:30

At least vote on the questions. Go up in there, read what they say, the questions or the initiatives, and if they speak to you, they speak to you. If they don't, they don't Do research, though, because that shit right there directly involves everything that you do every day within your community President not so much. You do every day within your community President, not so much. And if you're in one of those places that you have to vote for somebody like you have to fill every block out for the vote to count you can write anybody into those spaces that you don't give a fuck about. This is not me telling you what to do, nor is it giving any ideas to anybody. I'm just speaking right now and if you have to do that thing, put anybody's name in there, but you make sure you vote that questionnaire or that ballot initiative.

Speaker 1 37:23

Sometimes I've been told that if you put the name of the person for the president that you feel as though is the best candidate for the job, put that person's name in there. Sometimes I vote for myself. Sometimes I vote for other people at the time that I feel like will do a dope job, because nine times out of 10, they're probably going to do they're probably a better choice than the people that I'm actually choosing for anyway. So not that it's going to make it like, oh, your voice doesn't matter. It kind of does, because I'm literally here just voting for this particular thing that matters to me. So why does it matter who I write in there? But just saying just an idea. But ultimately it's just make sure your voice is heard in that aspect. Um, tell you that's it. Tiktok is what it is. Um, I will say that, if you have never, I'll do it as a challenge. How about that?

Speaker 1 38:34

So I think number one I'm not much of a person to shout out social media. I'm very rarely on social media. I don't really fuck with the Facebooks or the Instagrams and Snapchats. I'm I'm on Twitter, but mostly crypto Twitter, so I really don't have a dog in a fight when it comes to the social media wars. But what I will say is that TikTok just feels different to me there. Granted that TikTok, tiktok shop, the way that they sprinkle that into the algorithm now is a really fucking annoying. However, comma, I don't. I'm not really mad at it because everybody's trying to sell you something at any given moment of the day. Trying to sell you something at any given moment of the day, and whether it's Instagram, facebook, whatever, somebody's always trying to sell you something. So can I get really mad at TikTok for trying to do the same shit? But I'm not a person to be everywhere on top of social media, but I think TikTok is.

TikTok's Influence and Control

Speaker 1 39:49

Tiktok is dope, based on the information that it gives and the way that it's given people some type of a voice on a different type of platform versus the Facebooks and all that stuff. In the next six months, while TikTok is still around, go on there and see what they about Actually go on there and see why Congress is so shook about them too and why they're such a problem. And it's not just a dance app for those who think that if you've never been. It's an app where people and this is just not me saying it, because I'm on TikTok all the time, it's not just me saying this is what other people have told me to.

Speaker 1 40:35

They've learned so much shit and I think that's actually high key, low key. The reason for it reaches so many different people at any given moment that that type of information sharing without it being filtered by people who want to filter information and types of information. It can't be filtered because they can't control it. So, because they can't control it, that's why they're being so extra right now with this, and usually if the government thinks something's bad, it's probably really not that bad, if anything is bad for them but good for the people.

Speaker 1 41:15

But back to TikTok. I've heard so many people say that they've learned like life skills on TikTok, gardening and different books and cooking and conspiracy stuff and finance and music and motivation and, yes, all that information and all that types of shit can be found on all different types of social media too. But the way the algorithm puts TikTok together for the people to stay in that mode of thinking with the good shit, the life skills and the cooking and the gardening and all that stuff, it's like it has to be a reason why, uh, they're so shook in my mind. The government, so enjoy for the next six months and come october, when they say it's about to shut down, and November, when it's time for you to vote. Remember what caused this and remember this moment, remember who actually set this in motion to it to be a thing.

Speaker 1 42:21

But, uh, yeah, that's all I got for y'all today. I appreciate you hanging out with me. Um, I hope each and every one of you have a great rest of your day, rest of your evening. That's all I got for y'all today. I appreciate you hanging out with me. I hope each and every one of you have a great rest of your day, rest of your evening, and I will catch you on the next session with Shay Peace.