Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why Techrights Condones Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban and Suggests Extending Bans to Supposedly 'Good' Fentanyl

Fentanylware: Who's there?



Summary: We're going to write a lot more about why social control media/networks ought to be avoided and what can be done to eradicate this disease from civil society (it's not social; it's surveillance, propaganda and censorship)

SOCIAL control media (AKA centralised manipulation) is generally bad and "modern" socially-manipulative 'media' [sic] even more so; it is a lot worse for reasons we'll name in future posts. There are many reasons and itemising them properly takes effort. The "dosages" are increasing over time (like narcotics for the brain), not just the bandwidth. Surveillance, propaganda and censorship are among the levers (tenets?) and addiction is leveraged through gamification and "FOMO". This is no children's game.



Those who have been following our Daily Links are well aware that we're not proponents of TikTok and not even remotely apologists of the parent company; it's not "racist" or "uncool" to point out what TikTok does, probably by design (the same is true for social control media made in/operated from Europe and north America).

"Computers were meant to make life easier and safer. In practice, however, we often see it turning out to be exactly the opposite."In the coming years we're likely to write a lot more about the issue. It's not an enigma or some deep mystery why media has often sided with TikTok, seeing that budget was allocated to AstroTurfing and many in the media are themselves TikTok junkies.

Computers were meant to make life easier and safer. In practice, however, we often see it turning out to be exactly the opposite. In some cases, computers over-complicate life and put life itself at risk. That's due to the choices made by people who truly control them, and those people aren't the users who paid for these computers.

We strongly discourage adoption of social control media and we encourge people to abandon not only TikTok. The media found itself a bit of a scapegoat to distract from equally culpable surveillance and manipulation giants.

"The problems here are multi-faceted..."When it comes to tackling this problem (both TikTok and others), one must tread very carefully and not adopt a one-size-fits-all 'omnibus'-like legislation. Disdain and scepticism towards TikTok has been weaponised to "RESTRICT" a lot of things under the guise of "national security". It is super important to differentiate between a specific ban on ByteDance or TikTok and the RESTRICT Act in the Unites States. It is being discussed in Congress and the media sometimes conflates the two issues. There are a lot of things going on. A specific ban would be good -- either restriction on all social control media or just TikTok -- but the RESTRICT Act makes the old PATRIOT II look mild and benevolent in comparison. Among other things it neutralises FOIA -- i.e. the ability of the public to demand and impose transparent governance. There are many sites/paperw which are trying to confuse the topic of a TikTok/ByteDance ban with support for the RESTRICT Act.

The problems here are multi-faceted and cannot be reduced to single sentences (RESTRICT Act, for instance, is a bit of a monster made by mobsters). We'll try to come up with a concise or coherent explanation at a later date, differentiating between the different companies and listing the underlying issues associated with each. It's getting worse every year.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
 
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.