Question of the day
Friday, Jan 17, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Associated Press…
The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok beginning Sunday unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company, holding that the risk to national security posed by its ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.
A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect on Jan. 19, new users won’t be able to download it and updates won’t be available. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.
The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political agitation by President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed that he could negotiate a solution and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has signaled it won’t enforce the law beginning Sunday, his final full day in office.
Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity, and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now.
* The Question: Which social media apps do you use the most? Explain.
- H-W - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:49 am:
Facebook (really).
Its the only social media app I use. It allows me to keep ties with old friends and family. I recreated my account last year, so that I could overcome the algorithms that were feeding me all sorts of nonsense and ads, etc. It also allowed me to reclaim a lot of family photos that I had previously posted.
But I have never used TicToc or X or Instagram or the other apps my kids seem addicted to. Just Facebook, with family in mind.
- Cool Papa Bell - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:50 am:
I use Reddit. I find that it caters to learning about my hobbies or interests. You can ask a question in a sub about the town you live in or are visiting for good ideas about things. I like sub for my generation, it’s fun.
I’ve never posted a thing to Facebook in my life, I quit Twitter during COVID. Instagram looks like the only thing I’d consider using.
- The Dude - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:53 am:
I use Facebook mainly because a lot of people I know are on there.
- ModerateGOP - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:55 am:
I’m an old school guy and only use Facebook.
- Blitz - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:56 am:
Echoing Cool Papa, I never fully utilized Facebook or MySpace. I tried with Instagram and Twitter and found them to be toxic. For me it’s specially curated Reddit pages and knowing really good websites with great communities such as Giant Bomb, Ars Technica, and who could forget Capitol Fax.
- Excessively Rabid - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 11:58 am:
I only post on Facebook, and I’m only on there because other people are. I read on Bluesky and Reddit, and on X if I have to.
- Levois - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:05 pm:
I use Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter. I could never really understand the point of TikTok so while I do have an account there, hardly ever really use it. Not even to watch the vids on there. Also want to get better at YouTube.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:06 pm:
Facebook, Bluesky the most. account on other sites just to keep up with certain groups who spend more time there(and also to prevent my same handle from being snagged on those platforms).
Also this;
“once the law takes effect on Jan. 19, new users won’t be able to download it and updates won’t be available.”
Is only sort of true.
The app can still be downloaded and sideloaded manually, especially if you already have full control over your own device.
I almost can’t believe I’m saying this, but this might have a wonderful unintended consequences to the Eternal September issue. By making it practically require advanced knowledge and skills to install the app in the first place, it may just be a nice pre-filter of who gets on -or at least stays on- the app in the first place.
If that works out well, can we get the government to start ‘banning’ more social media too?
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:17 pm:
I am with Raja Krishnamoorthi chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and never used Tiktok due to CCP influence. I use X, Reddit, and Facebook in that order. now that Meta has dropped the “fact checkers” and embraced free speech I may use FB more
- Homebody - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:19 pm:
I still ‘use’ twitter, but I’m using it less and less these days. A couple months ago something changed in the algo and now half my feed is random video reposts from years ago from accounts I’ve never followed and have no interest in. Just the dregs of the internet. That more than anything is what will most likely make me stop using it entirely.
I use Bluesky for all the productive things I USED to use twitter for. Facebook for staying in contact with family and for posting event invitations. I only have an instagram account so my friends can share memes with me.
- Behind the scenes - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:29 pm:
Facebook to keep in touch with friends and groups. Twitter as a wire service for sports, etc.
Around a year ago I signed up for TikTok and before I ever posted anything received notice that my account was suspended for violating terms of service. Clearly it was a mistake, but they never relented. From a petty, disgruntled customer angle, the ban is great.
- Proud Papa Bear - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:31 pm:
Bluesky has been a refreshing change from the cesspool of X and, soon, Facebook. I just wish people went by their real names on there so I could find them more easily.
- Just Me 2 - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:38 pm:
Does this blog count as an app? If so, then this one.
- ElTacoBandito - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:39 pm:
Reddit. It lets me customize what I see in my feed more than the others. It isn’t a pretty site but in my opinion it is the best SM.
- Chicagonk - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
Twitter, Reddit, and Tiktok. If Substack counts, then that as well.
- Give Me A Break - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:45 pm:
I use “X” and Bluesky. Half the people I follow on X have left, and those that are left don’t post much or I’m seeing them. Bluesky seems to still be learning what it wants to be when it grows up.
- ChicagoVinny - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 12:55 pm:
I use Bluesky the most, it feels like Twitter back when it was fun.
I never really consider Reddit social media but I do use it, Mastodon increasingly less, and LinkedIn for recruiting purposes.
- Wisco Expat - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 1:07 pm:
I tend to use a lot of social media - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, and Reddit. I used to use TikTok but stopped because I dislike the TikTok Shop feature and found that I would waste hours of time just scrolling mindlessly through TikTok. I use Facebook to keep up with family, Snapchat for friends, Instagram to keep up with the trends, LinkedIn for professional purposes, Threads and Bluesky as a Twitter substitute, and Reddit to be more involved in various identity-based communities. As a member of Gen Z, I grew up learning how to navigate social media while keeping myself safe on the Internet and being very mindful on the content I consume. However, most Internet users are not very media literate. The relaxing of Facebook’s content moderation standards does scare me a bit. I fear that misinformation and disinformation, especially ones created by AI models, could spread more easily and only lead to further division.
- Jerry - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 1:10 pm:
Facebook Messenger and LinkedIn. Otherwise I have no need for social media.
- OneMan - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 1:17 pm:
Bluesky and I watch stuff on TikTok, but don’t add content there.
- Perrid - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 1:41 pm:
Youtube by a wide margin (if that’s social media, I think it probably is but it’s different than most of the others), then Twitter, even now, and I’m trying to use Bluesky more. I’m going to try to quit Twitter next week, since Musk is part of the admin in all but name. I basically haven’t used my FB account since 2018. Never used TikTok or Insta.
- CG - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 1:47 pm:
As a GenXer - I use Instagram to follow for recipes, home decor, comedians and some fashion. YouTube as a way to watch some PBS and some international new programs in another language, as well as more cooking, and “BookTube” for ideas for reading. Also, more comedy and to watch the opening monologue of various late nights or guests I’m interested in. I have an account on LinkedIn but just to have one. I don’t really use it. I don’t have an account on Reddit, but I do look up things on Reddit when I’m planning a trip to find restaurant or tour recommendations.
- Tequila Mockingbird - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:07 pm:
I don’t use any. No FB, no X, nothing.
I come here sometimes for anti social media.
- Amalia - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:12 pm:
Book X Sky Insta all have different audiences/friend groups in my life. I’m tired of hearing “why aren’t you on abcd at all/more.” I can’t keep up with who posts what. that said, I’ve also made some new pals whom I met simply through social media, and then encountered IRL.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:32 pm:
I use Facebook only for marketplace. I used to use Twitter a lot but it is too full of garbage now, I only look at it now when someone forwards me a tweet or one is posted on capfax.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:33 pm:
I think the most hilarious thing about all of this, is how the US govt has somehow found a way to drive a large part of its population to use an even more CCP owned app called “RedNote”, which is the English Translation of the Chinese name for it - Little Red Book.
Knowing history, makes this part of the present absolutely hilarious.
- ZC - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:40 pm:
BlueSky is where I spend most of my time now. I still check Threads regularly. I canceled my account on X and have not looked back.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:45 pm:
Facebook, Other Facebook (Instagram), Reddit and sort of just ignore the others.
- JoanP - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:47 pm:
I don’t use social media (unless, as Perrid suggests, YouTube is social media).
- JS Mill - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 2:57 pm:
We have a school district facebook page and I have to have a personal page to access our page (postings corrections etc) but we only push info out and do not allow comments.
Personally I never post on my personal FB, it is nearly blank. Otherwise I am just like JoanP.
This cracked me up…
=Tiktok due to CCP influence. I use X, Reddit, and Facebook in that order.=
It. cracked me up because the “CCP” and russian intelligence have been influencing all of those social media properties since they were invented.
- illini - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 3:09 pm:
It was probably 9 or 10 years ago when I was compelled to become the administrator of an organizations Facebook page. I quickly learned the pros and cons of that platform and still use it today but mostly for the messenger feature. I am liking Bluesky the more I use it. I’ve also found some old friends from CapFax on that site. Worth investigating.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 3:18 pm:
X,Facebook,and Bluesky.
But since I won’t pay for “premium” it’s getting harder to avoid right wing ads and junk.
Especially since Elon went full on Trumper.
Facebook I use the messenger as much as I do the app itself.
And Bluesky I am on but I would like to see more content.
- FormerParatrooper - Friday, Jan 17, 25 @ 3:54 pm:
I tend to read blogs. No X, FB or the rest.Left, right and center blogs.