TikTok Removal Update 3/23
The hearing that appalled the world
Well, that was an eventful day.
I will say, for me, it ended on a really positive note. I watched the CNN special “Is Time Up For TikTok.” Shockingly, this wasn’t only informative and showed journalistic integrity, but they pretty much sided with us the whole way through. If people are interested I may live stream the whole hour-long special, or, if there isn’t a video time limit on here, make a separate post. Unfortunately, I can’t find it online. The one time I wish CNN+ was still a thing.
The best part was when two members of Congress, one Democrat and one Republican, explained the bills and how they don’t see any sort of viable bill coming forward until the end of the year. Now, they could be wrong, but it seems like we can think of this more as a marathon than a sprint and actually mobilize properly.
That was a huge win in my eyes.
You can see a short clip in my TikTok to get a feel for how the hour went.
Now let’s backtrack to the beginning of the day, the hearing.
If you haven’t seen it, lucky you, but, if you still want to
It’s five hours and it’s miserable from beginning to end. The Democrats and Republicans on the committee were fully united. And I do mean fully.
There were moments when Republicans talked about how their kids are becoming woke or transgender using the app. Moments where they purposefully mispronounced Chew’s name, times they compared him to Putin and so so much worse. There was Sinaphobia and transphobia, and not a single Democrat called out any of it. (we’ll come back to this)
On the 21st, the Restrict Act finally became the Restrict Act, officially.
And two more senators, one on the Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, and one not, became cosponsors.
The text was also added. It is very overreaching and if anyone knows how to read legal documents it would be amazing if you could break it down section by section.
Okay so, the update is done, here’s today’s actions:
First and foremost, the exhibit at the hearing from the Republicans is to be expected, but almost across the board, the Democrats were just as bad. We NEED to let them know that their Seniphobia as well as complacency with transphobia and anti-woke language is not acceptable.
braindump on TikTok did an incredible thing and created a spreadsheet of all the house members on that committee, along with all their social media and contact info. This is more about embarrassing them than anything. Absolutely call their offices and email them, but this is more a time to comment on social media and let them know how disappointed in them we are. This is something Gen Z really excels at, let’s get them trending.
Next, if anyone has connections, I know this doesn’t apply to everyone, use them. Another thing mentioned in the “Is Time Up For TikTok” special is how many US investors there are in TikTok. But it got me thinking, the music industry really stands to lose the most if TikTok is removed from the US. So if you have connections with any labels, if you are on a label etc, now is the time to use those connections.
Where are the celebrities on the app? And, as usual, where are the big creators? Someone like Keith Lee could make such an impact telling his followers to call their representatives. Instead, he’s just telling people where to find him when the app goes away. I take it back, he deleted the post because people were angry he was sending them to Meta. Call out your favorite creators. I do think we can fight and win but only if we all work together.
For those asking there is now a RESIST BOT. Text PUMRQC to 50409.
But I do implore you to call your reps too.
Speaking of calling your reps, here are the reps you need to call:
Both your senators (local and DC offices)
Senator Maria Cantwell chair of the Commerce Science and Transportation committee where s686 is (any local office and DC)
Your member of congress (local and DC offices)
Your state senator (local and your state capital offices)
Your state Assembly member (local and your state capital offices)
And guess what, this isn’t just for this bill either. We need to always be calling our reps whenever we want them to vote a certain way. These are our representatives, let’s make sure they represent us.
At the very least call once a day Monday-Friday, but, especially if your senator is on the Senate committee, call more than once a day.
Your local officials are more receptive, you can absolutely tell them your story of why TikTok is so important to you. However, for your federal officials, it’s all about do they have your vote. You need them to know that if they vote for a “ban” you won’t vote for them in the primaries. That’s the important part because we have to be united in the general elections, but in the primaries, we can vote as progressive as we want. Especially if you’re older, tell them your age. They still think only older people vote. that will scare them more.
Here is the newsletter with best practices about calling your reps (or walking into their offices, you can do that too.)
Please contact me if you want to help us with mobilizing. The more we have the stronger we are.
We got this, but only if we fight!
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One final thing, I’m part of this Patreon-like start-up for organizations. It’s a great way to start your activist journey. You donate any amount, I do mean any, to the causes that are important to me, from Ukraine to queer rights to disabled rights, you know my issues. I’ve found the organizations so you don’t have to.