The sequence of events as far as I can recall:
- Trump promised to ban TikTok
- TikTok was slated to be “banned” in the twilight of Biden’s term
- Trump says he’d give it 90 days to make a decision
- Biden decides not to ban it, handing it off to Trump
- TikTok goes dark
- It returns, but if you search for something anti-Trump in the United States, you can’t find it
- Using a VPN will give you that content
- Various news outlets are now calling it Trump’s “Propaganda Arm”
What the fuck is going on? From a political or technological standpoint.
I would not agree. Every metric is subject to Goodhart’s law, approval ratings is no exception. Putin has (allegedly) maintained an approval rating well over 50% for his entire career.
I’m not saying he wants to do right by his constituents, I’m saying he wants to be told he’s a winner. Trump is a narcissist. He’s all the other terrible things because at the end of the day he needs to feel liked. He will only do things that he thinks will fill that void.