It is hard to imagine that the founders of the United States intended the Free Speech provisions of the Constitution to be used by foreign governments and opponents of democracy to distort and enrage public discussion. Yet, according to an article in today’s New York Times, this appears to be what TIkTok, with its strong times to the Chinese government, seems to be accomplishing in casting a dark shadow over Joe Biden’s remarkably good economic news.
Here’s how the article in the New York Times frames this disconnection between the upbeat reality and the perceived economic problems that seem to dominate economic discussions in the U.S. right now.
”Look at economic data, and you’d think that young voters would be riding high right now. Unemployment remains low. Job opportunities are plentiful. Inequality is down, wage growth is finally beating inflation, and the economy has expanded rapidly this year.
Look at TikTok, and you get a very different impression — one that seems more in line with both consumer confidence data and President Biden’s performance in political polls.”
www.nytimes.com/…
Of course, it is not just TikTok, but also the unending information streams from Fox News, NewsMax, the Epoch Times and now, Univision, that continually spin the news in ways that benefit Republican/Conservative interests and damage Progressives and Democratic interests.
However, TikTok is the one that most profoundly affects the perceptions of young voters, and which is sucking the energy and optimism out of the younger generation of voters.
Perhaps it is time to consider that we may need to find a way to counteract intentionally misleading information: That it is not just yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater that can destroy peoples’ lives—and that foreign government propaganda and paid corporate propaganda may just as surely destroy the life and vitality of the American democracy?