A TikTok ban is a massive prize that Zuckerberg has been laying the groundwork on for years. Will Trump let him have it?

This headline was literally my first out-loud laugh of the day. I love it.

Meta has denied directly lobbying on the TikTok ban, but the company spent a record sum lobbying in 2024, including on “Homeland Security” topics. In March 2022, the Washington Post reported that Meta paid a firm called Targeted Victory to push the narrative that TikTok is dangerous to children. And Zuckerberg himself has spent the last five years painting a picture to Congress that his monopolistic company faces great competition, actually, from Chinese companies and more importantly from China itself. This story has served Meta extraordinarily well, as he has been able to distract from Meta’s myriad privacy violations and monopolistic actions by saying it would be worse if China wins. Meta is not a monopoly, he says. It is a company fighting on behalf of America against China and Chinese companies for the soul of the internet.

“Ooh, China bad, don’t pay attention to all the evil we do.” Jackass.

  • Tikiporch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    No one can actually have a billionaire by the balls, even if they’re another billionaire. It’s kind of the whole point of being a billionaire.

    Pretty much their only weakness is literally everyone else deciding billionaires shouldn’t exist, and working together to make that happen.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Just look at the Russian model, that’s what Trump wants to do.

      You can only be a billionaire, if you do what the authoritarians want. Otherwise you get arrested or pushed out a window and they absorb all your assets… I don’t think all of these US billionaires thought this through to be honest.

      • futatorius@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        20 hours ago

        A lot of them have been going to Mar a Lago to kiss the ring. So it looks like they have thought it through.

  • Sculptus Poe@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    Why is Meta lobbying at all? Why does any private entity have the ear of presidents and congress? This is a fundamental problem with the system as a whole.

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      The foxes have been in the henhouse for a while. But now they don’t need to hide anymore. The American oligarchy can finally shed its masks and go full-on Russia 2.0.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.clubEnglish
      0·
      4 days ago

      Why is Meta lobbying at all?

      They want to influence public policy for their benefit.

      Why does any private entity have the ear of presidents and congress?

      A large part of politics is balancing the needs of different groups.

      • Sculptus Poe@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        That’s fine if all the different groups have a forum where being heard isn’t decided by the size of the donation.