MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

TikTok ban: Internet slams Trump's move as ‘idiotic' and says he's in ‘teenage girl revenge mode’

The Internet is torn, divided, and angry with suspicion as people wonder just why the President is hounding after the 10-second video app

It has finally happened. President Trump is set to ban TikTok in the country through executive action as early as Saturday, August 1, claim reports. And naturally, people are pretty much losing it. From outrage to humor and a general sympathy towards a global chunk of content creators who had found their medium of expression through the micro-video blogging app, the Internet is torn, divided, and angry with suspicion as people wonder just why the President is hounding after the 10-second video app.

Looking up the TikTok hashtag on Twitter will reveal a barrage of reactions, gifs, and memes about Twitteratti concerned by the imminent influx of TikTokers into their sacred platform. From 'TikTok influencers at the unemployment office' jokes to 'damn they are gonna infiltrate our Twitter', social media is clearly divided into and runs on the basis of a class pyramid where Tiktokers are simply not welcome into the 280-character territory. But there are also a few empaths on Twitter who feel deeply for the content creators who had found a voice through the other platform.

"I don't have a TikTok, nor did I ever intend to create one because it's shady as hell, but I do genuinely have sympathy for some of the content creators on there who were trying to make it in this business. I hope they already diversified to other platforms like the Viners did," a user wrote tweeted. For others, it's been difficult deciding how they should feel about it. "Torn between thinking the president shouldn't be able to just ban tiktok and thinking i won't have to see people praise annoying videos on a daily basis," wrote one such Twitter user. 

Reposting Buzzfeed's tweet about Trump's decision to ban the app, a user wrote, "Wow... I really didn't think he would really make this idiotic move. Great news is how many votes he just lost. Lots of those TikTok'ers are over 18 years old." Others feel "Trump’s ban on TikTok could ultimately backfire. It could ensure a much larger number of 18-30+-year-olds will show up to vote, against him. "Wow!!!  So he is legit going full out teenage girl revenge mode now!!! Really???  Out for revenge against the popular clique for their antics and freedom to speak out against him??   Lol," wrote another user. 

"What the f**k trump is literally gonna get rid of tiktok the only fun app left for creators and not to mention its educational as hell!"

The news of this ban comes after the sitting POTUS had expressed keenness to ban all Chinese apps owing to ongoing political tension between the two countries surrounding the worldwide pandemic. As of now, Microsoft had been in talks to acquire the US operations of the Chinese-owned app, but Trump's alleged decision to actually ban the app arrived much more recently. But until further notice, in the words of people who did make a life out of the app, "what the f**k am i gonna do without tiktok? get a job?!?!"