#i hate how much tiktok exists outside of the app

[allthegothihopgirls]

i hate tiktok i hate short-form video content i hate tiktok 'influencers' i hate herd mentality i hate it oh my god

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for writing a paragraph on how I want to drop my friends?

(15F for ref, everyone in here is also F and around the same age)

In 2022, I returned from a six-week camp session with friends I only see once a year (pretty shitty experience ngl, but I still had fun), A couple days later, they accused me of stealing this girl's shirt since I was the last one to wear it. I told her I didn't and I wouldn't. I had a similar steal it because. They proceed to accuse me, so to get out my feelings I write this lengthy paragraph in my notes app expressing my thoughts and what I don't like about the group. This never gets sent out, and we stay friends.

In 2023, they went to camp again (for the last eligible year so it was very special to them), but I stayed home due to pre-existing commitments. This was also the time when the notes app trend was going on, a.k .a. where people would post their notes app and all the antics they wrote. I also posted a video like this, and on the sixth slide, I put the paragraph that I wrote in 2022 (it said 2022 at the top). They didn't immediately see this because they weren't allowed to have their phones, but I private the video before they got back due to a mental health issue I had accidentally aired out. At this time, I saw nothing wrong with the paragraph being included because all the issues had blown over.

A couple months later, I un-privated the video because YOLO and the group found it and immediately got hated on so hard for the video. They post pictures of me to social media stories write paragraphs about how awful of a person I am, create lies about me, and comment on all of my Tiktok posts where I talk about the issue, despite me being vague.

I don't know where I stand in this issue because yeah, I didn't go to the trip this year, and the paragraph was admittedly rude, but they didn't even give me a chance to explain, and getting body shamed on a private Snapchat story when they know I had an ED isn't something i think I deserve, but I need outsider perspective.

The paragraph for reference:

I’m sorry but I can’t do this anymore. The whole entire time I was at camp I felt isolated because I was not as involved and as social with the boys as you guys were/are, and that might not be your fault, but you guys have no care in that being the only thing you discuss on this group chat. Every time I text about something else, it always gets pushed to the side and now you are accusing me of stealing (name)’s top. I agree, I was the last on to wear it, but distinctly remember throwing it back into (name)'s trunk. I am sorry it did not make the trip back home, but it is not my fault. I don’t want your slutty top anyways, I only borrowed it because my ebb to street wasn’t going to work. I have done so much for you guys, like letting everyone borrow my clothes, giving away my lululemon, and while some of my pieces were stolen, I am not pointing fingers at random people because I have control of my feelings. So many words have been wasted protecting the reputation of Cabin 10 from others who think you guys are attention-seeking whores (you want names? It’s the whole fucking camp), and everyone looked at me in pity when I cried into my hands because I was so sad. I have heard you guys talk shit about me in front of my face (*giggling and whispering* Are you going to try out for the play? No that’s weird. Both heads turn towards me, and laughter erupts out of the two mouths. You know who you are), and you guys have talked shit about each other to me, so I can only imagine what has been said about me. I felt ashamed about my passions, the only personality trait you guys addressed was that I was so mean and I was smart (you only revealed the latter on in private, the former was told to everyone). I am done feeling horrible about myself because you guys are so wrapped up in what every (camp) boy thinks of you, so I am cutting contact. You have ruined my camp experience to the point where I am not coming back.

What are these acronyms?

[sophieinwonderland]

Let's talk parallels between the state of politics, xenophobia and syscourse!

Specifically, libeling marginalized communities to spread hate against them. Because I've noticed a lot of interesting connections, and I feel like I just watched something in syscourse play out on the national stage.

It turns out that bigotry is the same wherever you are. When you pay attention to a lot of bigoted rhetoric, it's always using the same sort of playbook.

When it comes to plurality, the bigots are system medicalists and anti-endos. Those who hate non-traumagenic systems just for existing.

If you listen to anti-endo rhetoric, the specific talking points reek of xenophobic rhetoric. Anti-endos will claim that endogenic systems, simply by existing and being plural, are invading their spaces and stealing their resources. What resources, you might ask? It's always unclear. It's not DID therapists since most endogenic systems don't have DID and aren't seeking help from them. It's not apps like Plurakit or Simply Plural, since they were made by endogenic and pro-endo systems, and wouldn't exist without the pro-endo community.

In some cases, you will even see anti-endos go so far as to classify endogenic systems as invaders.

I am not saying that sysmeds are xenophobic. But rather, I feel that a lot of sysmed rhetoric is at least in part, due to the normalization of xenophobic talking points and those talking points being unconsciously internalized. And I feel that both also stem from the same sort of tribalism and fear of this outside group "invading" spaces you view as your own.

The System Hopping Libel

A libel is a published lie that is written with malicious intent.

When I refer to the "system hopping libel," I'm referring to a popular claim by sysmeds that "system hopping" is a RAMCOA term that was stolen by endogenic systems. The claim goes that survivors of RAMCOA (a term for ritual and organized abuse) originally used "system hopping" to refer to travel between different side systems. Later, endogenic systems stole this term and used it to refer to a headmate traveling from one different-bodied system to another.

This was quickly spread through sysmed circles, especially on Twitter and TikTok, as an example of how evil endogenic systems were, to steal terms from this super vulnerable group who suffered the most extreme trauma imaginable.

Except... this was a complete lie.

In reality, system hopping had always been used by endogenic systems to refer to travel between systems of different bodies. We've tracked its first use with this definition at least as far back as 2005. While the RAMCOA definition is much more recent, coming from a Tweet in 2021, 16 year later, seen here:

This, at no point, claimed it was a stolen term either. But sysmeds ran with it anyway, using this post as the basis for a massive libel against a marginalized community.

Later, the system who originally posted the Tweet that started the libel deleted it, disgusted that sysmeds took their words as a RAMCOA survivor and used those words to spread hate.

And they made it clear that this wasn't ever a RAMCOA term, saying this:

But the system hopping libel is something that still persists in syscourse today, despite being completely debunked.

MAGA's Pet-Eating Blood Libel

During the recent presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating people's cats and dogs.

If you haven't been keeping up on American politics, you might assume that this wasn't real or is just a meme. Trust me, I wish that it was.

This entire rumor started because a woman in Springfield Ohio made a Facebook post alleging that an immigrant had eaten a neighbor's cat. This rumor though was completely unsubstantiated, and the woman who made it... she's now deleted the post, regretting that it's been used by bigots to fuel their hate.

It's remarkable to me to watch the same exact scenario I saw with system hopping play out in politics.

One person makes a social media post. Bigots jump on that post to use it as an excuse to spread hate. The person who made the post regrets and deletes the post, making it clear they don't support the bigotry that stemmed from it. But it's too late because the bigotry machine is already in full swing and bigots don't care about facts or reality.

They are more than happy to spread malicious lies to slander an entire marginalized community. Even once the person whose words they used to start those lies have publicly denounced and turned against them, and deleted the posts that started it.

Stand Against Bigotry

While bigotry comes in a variety of different favors, it's important to recognize the commonalities between it. All bigotry is rooted in the same sort of fear and hate of the Other. The more you listen to racists and xenophobes and TERFs and transmeds and homophobes and sysmeds, the more you realize how much all of these groups think alike.

No, sysmeds might not be xenophobic. But they do think like someone who is xenophobic.

They see the world through the same sort of lens. And we need to stand against hate of marginalized people in whatever forms it takes.

With that in mind, I don't think I should need to say this, but get out and vote. Vote for the candidates who will stand against bigotry and hate. Vote against Trump for President. But also vote against MAGA supporters on down ballot races.

A plural future is a future where hate cannot be allowed a foothold, anywhere.

#Plurals for Harris

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Hearing the senate or whatever bitch to the CEO of tiktok about how much time kids spend on the app when they've made it illegal to exist as a kid/ teenager in public is infuriating.

What are kids supposed to do? They've removed third places (places you can exist outside of school/ work and home) because of racism. They've removed parks and shit because of automotive lobbying. They remove skate parks and shit literally just because you hate kids (the stereotype of rowdy teenagers). They removed public pools because racism and classism.

What the fuck are they supposed to do?

You don't want your kids on tiktok all the gahddamn time, then build them places where they can exist as a kid and be a kid, make it accessible for kids not old enough to drive, and make it FREE.

Guarantee you, there will be less kids in tiktok and playing video games.

It'll also help our childhood obesity problem because it'll get kids out of the house and moving around.

I don't even particularly like kids, but I don't see the logic in having these children full of energy and a need to learn how to socialize and taking away literally all of the outside and social activities away from them.

-fae

[eossa]

How I'd Make Tumblr More Profitable

Yes, this is going to be controversial, since I know nothing about the behind-the-scenes spending, economics, and all that jazz. But I've been on Tumblr for long enough to have a rough idea of the userbase wants - which is what positions Tumblr in a niche other sites don't really utilize. Most of the points I list here are about improving the experience of existing users, as keeping users might be harder for tumblr than attracting new ones.

Please note that this posts reflects my personal opinions and some stuff I've seen people complain about it. Do not attack me over anything I've written here, it's not worth my time and I will resort to blocking if I'm being bothered. Constructive criticism is fine and encouraged!

[under the cut because this got quite long] [last updated 20th July 2023]

Features to Add

Block posts. Xkit has/had this feature, it was great. Sometimes I just don't want to see a specific post, and others probably agree with that.

Send asks and replies from sideblogs. Would literally make a lot of things easier and better.

Delete individual reblog additions from a post. Sometimes, you have a post where there is one"relevant" addition, multiple "irrelevant" additions ("yes!", "[repeated phrase in bold]", "this is a must reblog"), before there is a "relevant" addition again. But right now, you can only remove all reblog additions, not just individual ones. I feel like this would be a neat feature.

Direct blocking of anon hate which also tracks the IP and blocks the associated account(s). No rights for cowards, that's all I'll say.

Features to Bring Back

Reblog chains. Prev tags are the backbone of lots of interactions on here. If I click on someone's username in a reblog chain, I want to see that post on their blog, not their blog starting from the newest post. The loss of this feature is one of the things people constantly complain about in the replies of @changes.

Several text formatting options. As a theme maker, it would be nice to have proper preformatted text again - it makes code so much more legible. Other formatting options I miss are marked/highlighted text and text lines, which are really helpful to visually break apart passages of text.

Features to Ditch

Tumblr Live. There I've said it. If I want to see stuff like that, I have TikTok, IG Reels, Pinterest Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Twitter also has something like this. It's oversaturated, and aparently there are still enough cyber security concerns that it's not even accessible outside of the US and Canada.

Ads in lightboxes. Especially on mobile, there are already more than enough ads on the feed, no need to add more nested inside other elements.

Features that Make Money

Pay for NSFW. If this site allowed full nudity etc. again but hid it behind a paywall, we'd kill two birds with one stone: The site would probably still be allowed on the App Store, and the money influx would be huge. The userbase would also increase again.

(If Tumblr Live is kept.) Pay to snooze Tumblr Live permanently. It's the most complained about thing in changes' replies, so I feel like people would pay on a subscription base just to not see TL anymore.

Pay to increase limits. 250 posts per day is the maximum that can be posted - and there are people hitting those limits. If there was an option to buy a higher limit (500p/d, 750p/d, etc.), people might generally use it. Like those add-on charges for mobile data. Same goes for posts in the queue, posts in drafts, images in a photoset and so on.

Pay to pin posts at the top of a tag or search result. Ebay Kleinanzeigen has this neat feature where you can push your small ads to the top of a search query so that more people can see it. This could be a cool feature to try, as it would work in a more content-aware way than Blaze does.

Pay to buy inactive URLs. There are some really cool usernames on here that are taken by blogs that haven't updated for 5+ years and only have one post (or none at all), and I feel like it would be neat to be able to buy one of these cool usernames attached to an empty account. To make sure that usernames attached to redirect or something else don't get bought, tumblr should send an e-mail to the username owner - if the user doesn't react to that for 3 months, the usernames changed owners. [added 13th July 2023]

Existing Features to Improve

NPF posts. I feel like a combination of legacy and NPF would be neat. Think selecting a main element like in the legacy editor (e.g. video, image, audio) and then adding a caption that can add different content types like NPF does. Or at least create a better overview over NPF variables and release the full base code with documentation to make things easier for the web designers on here. There are more issues with the NPF format but I won't list everything people dislike about it here.

Block people. The block feature should make sure that the person being blocked doesn't see any posts made by the person they were blocked by, even if those posts were reblogged by another user. Also, like IG does, there should be an option to block either just a specific blog or the IP address attached to block side-blogs and other accounts of that user.

Color palettes. The color palette options for the dashboard are generally a nice idea but I think it would be better if there was a dropdown menu to choose a palette from rather than having to click through all the different options. For example, if I want to go from Cement (light mode) to Dark mode, I have to click through 10 options until I reach Dark again. There has to be an easier way. [added 20th July 2023]

Other Improvements Needed

Nuke spam bots. Users are reporting all the spam bots, yet, it doesn't seem like they are dwindling in numbers. Also - at least this is how it's being perceived by the userbase - tumblr isn't doing enough on their end to reduce spam bots. This is definitely something that needs to be fixed.

End hateful and criminal activities. It's the year 2023, yet there are still outright N*zis, violent tr*nsphobes, literal p*dophiles, and other people committing to the daily bit of hate speech and other illegal activities (fraud too considering all those fake GoFundMe sites) on this website. I'm not saying free speech should be banned but there is a bright red line between what is free spech and what is hate speech (or should get you jailed considering fraud and p*dophilia).

A through-out, perhaps even interactive, beginner tutorial. "The site is too complicated to use for new users!" – then explain how it works in easy terms, with examples, images, and videos. Every other application or web app has walk-throughs, just do the same here.

Improved ad relevancy. The ads I see on tumblr are usually so out-of touch with the userbase, and many of them feel like the sort of stuff you see on a spam-ridden torrenting site. I feel like increasing the relevancy of ads to what the users usually blog about would cause a higher click-rate and turn-over-rate than the current ads do.

Summary

There is probably more I could add, but that's it for now. Should I make any later additions directly to this post, I will mention it to prevent misunderstandings. If you have any ideas or constructive criticism, let me hear about it in the replies or reblogs of this post.

[brookebellamy]

BookTok Needs to Read the Room

by Brooke Bellamy

As a fanfic community, we don’t leave negative, snotty comments in the same way we don’t criticize our kid’s volunteer soccer coach. Well, I suppose some people do but at least that’s commonly understood to be in poor taste to publicly ridicule someone contributing their time, effort and talents to the community for free.

Full blog below the cut but I'd super duper appreciate it if you consider checking it out for free on medium 🙏

Why We Shouldn’t Hate on Fanfic Writers

Spend no less than five minutes with me and you’ll probably — whether you want to or not — be brought up to speed on the latest fandom drama happening in my discord servers or Twitter groupchats.

I’m a fangirl, it’s exactly what it says on the can. I’m a copywriter by day and by night an avid creator and connoisseur of fanfiction — these days mostly about TOP GUN (yes, that TOP GUN) but it tends to vary on a semi-yearly basis.

I get my kicks in weird ways and yet I’m far from alone in that.

Beyond the movies and the characters, I’m interested in fandom as a whole or as we like to call it fandom meta.

The unspoken rules of this wacky subculture dating back to the 1960s. Watching beloved or controversial fanfics get pulled off the web, reworked and eventually published as independent stories in their own right. The constant push and pull against a mainstream that is becoming increasingly aware of something that used to be a shame-filled, hidden hobby only for the nerdiest of the nerds.

Enter, Stage Right: BookTok

Fanfic going somewhat mainstream is thanks in no small part to TikTok, specifically BookTok — the community that reviews and discusses published romance novels. I’m not really a member of that community but from what I’ve gathered BookTok is mostly made up of millennial women who voraciously consume books of varying degrees of quality and really, really, really care about the sex. Or, to use their own lingo, spice.

Like they’re almost getting a little weird about it, not gonna lie.

To an outsider, though I hardly should be considered one, BookTok seems to be a somewhat spiritual successor to the “Mommy Porn” craze that swept through the country with 50 Shades of Grey — the most famous example of a fanfiction (originally about Twilight) that was repurposed into a full-fledged novel.

But I digress.

I’m a creator on FandomTok which naturally brushes up quite a bit with my cousins over on the published, professional side of the street. It’s a mostly peaceful co-existence, but it is TikTok so it also can be a fucking nightmare.

Case in point: I opened up the app last week and was immediately bombarded by a presumably millennial woman from BookTok ranting about how much she hated a popular Harry Potter fanfiction.

I didn’t read the fic she’s talking about but from what I can gather it takes place after the books conclude and focuses on a tumultuous love affair between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. That would be Emma Watson and Tom Felton for the non-stans.

Now, I’m no Harry Potter fan. Quite the opposite, actually.

Some of my earliest and most deeply unpleasant childhood memories are that of older cousins chasing me around our grandparents’ house yelling all sorts of spells and Potter-lingo at me. I’m also pretty sure I got locked in a cabinet at one point — but that’s a story for another day.

So it goes without saying: I’m no fan of J.K. Rowling, her work or her vitriolic hate speech against trans people.

However I do live, breathe and love fanfiction and so that means my support has to extend to the Potterheads and their stories as well.

So back to the video, I’ll give you the TLDR:

OP is upset that she’s spent so much time on what she feels to be a very overhyped fanfiction. She doesn’t typically read fic and so she’s confused and angry as to why the writer changed so much of the plot. She thinks it’s an unrealistic story, that its readers have poor taste and she’s mad that the fanfic’s writer killed off Harry.

She also reduces the entire 380,000 word story into being only about sex, despite it being heavily based on the gender-based oppression and violence that takes place in The Handmaid’s Tale.

OP concludes the first of a series of videos on this singular fanfic by proclaiming that a real Harry Potter fan would never tolerate something like this.

I watched just 10 seconds of the video before I had to put my phone down from seeing red.

Eventually, I watched it all the way through, left a couple of angry comments, made a few video responses of my own and eventually blocked her because I can’t stand internet beef with people engaging in an argument in deliberately poor faith.

But I’m still really annoyed about it, if it’s not obvious.

OP’s video has about 30k views at the time of my writing this. That might not seem like too much for an app that regularly sees content explode with 15 million views, so let me reframe it for you:

Imagine you and a friend dined at a massively successful Italian restaurant (I’m talking reservations a month in advance at a minimum). You loved it so much you spent weeks thinking about the pasta and how much you wanted to go back for more. But the restaurant is popular for a reason and so you couldn’t get another reservation. After a while you decided to try your hand at recreating some of the dishes at home. You even opted to have a little fun and throw in your own take on it. You spent a long time researching the ingredients, practicing your technique and ended up with a final dish that you were quite proud of. In fact, you were so proud of and excited by your creation that you invited that same friend over to try it one night. For some inexplicable reason, she was visibly angered at the invite. She told you that you were wasting your time trying to recreate the magic from the restaurant, but she showed up for dinner anyway. Empty handed, of course. Not even a cheap bottle of wine for your trouble. She took the first bite, gagged, announced she hated it and then for some reason decided to power through your entire meal. Literally licked the. plate. clean. She then stood up and left your house without a word of thanks or even a goodbye. And then the next day you got a notification from TikTok that she made ten minutes worth of videos about how shit your cooking is, and her videos reached enough people to fill up Madison Square Garden one and a half times.

And that analogy, though long-winded, still isn’t even perfect. In reality, the fic author didn’t invite OP to read the story; OP found it on her own.

So really it’s like your friend barged into your kitchen, took a bite of your pasta and then put you on blast for having a bland sauce.

Words (And Where We Say Them) Matter

30,000 views certainly isn’t viral, but it’s enough to drastically alter the fanfic writer’s creative experience. It’s enough to ruin the magic for a devoted fan just trying to have fun and write a little story about their favorite characters smooching.

The disgust and anger OP brought to table is shocking and in blatant disregard for the fic writing community’s golden rule:

If you don’t like, don’t read.

There’s a ton of other fandom colloquial terms — don’t yuck my yums is a particular favorite of mine — but they all mean more or less the same thing.

Don’t be a hater. Don’t spoil the fun. Don’t hurt anyone. Don’t be cruel in this space intended for creativity, community and friendship.

BookTok is increasingly diving into the wonderful, wacky world of fanfic and yet many of creators refuse to learn the unique culture and norms that have existed for decades.

For instance, it’s not an uncommon phenomenon for a single nasty comment to stop a fanfic in its tracks. That may sound like a hypersensitive author, but I argue:

Non-consensual criticism has no place in fanfiction.

I say non-consensual because in fandom we do actually have protocols for critiques. A beta read is a common term for a peer review, where the writer actively seeks out feedback from another writer to improve grammar, story structure, etc. However, this is a closed, private exchange between two community members that have established trust and connection — it’s a safe space.

Fanfiction that is deemed harmful or even dangerous is also fair game, though we tend to keep our commentary mostly to things like:

“This story contains sexual violence that was not properly tagged, please update the tags ASAP so not to trigger others”

When we post, of course we know that technically we’re opening ourselves up to the internet. However, I’m not blasting my quirky little Iron Man stories to the front page of Medium. I’m sharing it with a relatively small, somewhat isolated community filled with others who also happen to like quirky little stories about Iron Man.

For instance, it’s very common for fics to conclude with brief send-offs like:

“This was my first time writing from Peeta’s pov, so be nice please 🙏” “I wrote this for my friend’s birthday — I hope her day is as happy as Edward and Bella ended up here!!!” “English isn’t my first language and I’m not from the UK so apologies if any of the stuff about the train station or taxi cab seems a little off!”

In my opinion, this is not hypersensitivity; this is a request — sometimes a plea — to be kind about amateur work and to treat it as such.

We’re Talking Your Mom’s Pickleball League, Not the NFL Here

Fanfiction is not formally published writing, even though it’s “published” on a website like Tumblr or ArchiveOfOurOwn. More times than not, the fic writer is the only person that has eyes on the draft before the story goes live.

It doesn’t receive thorough review from a publisher. It doesn’t go through rounds and rounds of edits and comment periods like a professional writer’s work will.

Fic writers don’t receive any payment, sponsorship or credit for their work. They can’t because the entirety of fanfiction depends on writers cooperating with extremely delicate copyright laws — a fascinating topic I’ll probably elaborate on at some point.

There is literally nothing to be gained by writing and sharing fanfiction beyond the personal satisfaction and pride in contributing to your community’s collective joy.

Old Men Yells At Cloud, Harry Potter Edition

As a fanfic community, we don’t leave negative, snotty comments in the same way we don’t criticize our kid’s volunteer soccer coach.

Well, I suppose some people do but at least that’s commonly understood to be in poor taste to publicly ridicule someone contributing their time, effort and talents to the community for free.

I guess what I’m saying is that BookTok has some catching up to do. Or more aptly, they need to read the fucking room.

Fanfiction is a labor of love — by fans, for fans

If you don’t like a story, just scroll on by. Certainly don’t double down and read 380k of a story you hated in the first three paragraphs.

And if you think it’s so easy to write a “good” story, well then maybe you should give it a try before hating on the writers that are brave enough to share their work with the community.

And so finally, a speed run just a handful of OP and other BookToker’s concerns because if I don’t formally address these points I will lose my goddamn mind:

You guys were okay with the author just blatantly changing things? The mannerisms, the deaths?

Yes, that’s the whole fucking point of a fanfiction. Maverick and Iceman don’t actually kiss in the movies but they sure as hell do when I’m in charge.

What post-apocalyptic world would this ever happen realistically?

Are we really nitpicking the practicality of a post-9/11 wizarding world?

I’m sorry but this story sucked. Here’s a list of my Did-Not-Finish fanfics

Did-Not-Finish (DNF) lists are a popular tool used by BookTokers intended to help their audiences save money and avoid splurging on books they probably won’t jive with.

DNF lists have no place in fanfic because there is no money to save.

If you were a true Harry Potter fan, this would not fly.

No, no. If you were a true fan, you’d embrace your community members and uplift the storytellers that are keeping the magic alive for us all.

---

if you made it this far, thanks! consider checking me out on medium for other blog posts on fandom, pop culture and more :)

[hobbitsnapes]

E-girls are ruining vinnies life

Vinnie Hacker x Reader

Warnings: smut, +18, NSFW, kinky sex

A/N: this is my first vinnie writing, and my second smut. Please go easy on me (unlike vinnie...)

Never in his life did he think this would happen. In the short time he’s been on social media, he’s kept his relationship life private. Fearing the criticism the pore girl would inevitably get. He had seen it countless times to his friends, as soon as they’d announce they had found someone, instant hateful words would flood not only their comments, but their partners. He swore he wouldn’t ever outright publicly show his girlfriend, or announce that he was finally taken. That was, until he met her.

Surprisingly, very little hate or criticism came for them when he announced it that fateful day.

He had posted just a short video, a few seconds of him laying down, with her head resting in his neck. Her face being hidden by her hair. He had posted it to his second account, testing the waters there rather than his main account.

After a few days, and many people speculating, asking who she was, some trying to figure it out, even some claiming it was someone, when it never was. Even some claiming they weren’t dating, just friends. He never responded to any of the questions or comments.

Days had passed, with relatively good reactions to it, they both decided to take it to the next step, by officially posting it to his main account, outing them completely to the world.

He had decided to use the yellow trend to do it, thinking it would be a perfect trend for the purpose.

The first few pictures were of his friends, some from shoots they did, to some when they went skating, to just candid pictures. But after about 3 pictures with his friends, came a photo of her. She was sitting in the grass, a lone dandelion in her hand as she smiled shyly for the photo. Next was a photo of them standing in front of the mirror, she was in front, with his arm securely around her. Next was them standing in the same mirror, only he was dipping her slightly as he bent down to kiss her. A few more pictures of them flashed in the video, ending with a small video he took the night prior. They layer in bed, faces being only lit by the brightness of the phone as he laid on top of her. Their lips only centimeters apart, as he whispered I love you. Both smiling as he leans in, connecting their lips as the video ends.

Love was flooding his comments, so many saying how beautiful she was, saying how happy he looked, and how happy they were for him.

The other side, was people asking who she was, nobody being able to figure it out.

That was due to the fact that, they wouldn’t be able to find out. Because in the world of social media, she didn’t exist.

Early on she told him she wasn’t a social media person. She never had an Instagram, a Facebook, Twitter, nothing but a YouTube account that she’d never post on. Only there to watch videos and play music.

They met by pure luck, at the skatepark. She was sitting by herself, reading a book that engrossed her. She didn’t notice his eyes trainer on her the entire time, fully captivated by the pages.

He finally built up the courage, and being pushed by his friends, to go sit with her.

He was a nervous wreck, barley being able to compose himself enough to say hello and his name.

She thought it was cute, how he stumbled over his words when he talked to her. It was endearing, seeing just how flustered the very attractive man was.

To this day he wonders how he didn’t screw up. But he hadn’t, getting her number an hour after talking. Promising to take her out that weekend. And the rest, was history for them.

Over the next few weeks, he would randomly post a video of them together, usually on his second account. They both would sit and laugh at some of the comments, finding it Hilarious how crazy people were getting at trying to figure out who she was. Some came to the conclusion that she didn’t have any, with most begging her to make one.

It had been a relatively uneventful day, some might even call it boring.

Vinnie had been out most of the day, informing her of the plans he had with some of his friends. Promising her to be home that night, sealing his promise with a chaste kiss to her lips as he ran out the door, her heart thumping in her chest as he walked away.

She laid on their shared bed, her legs bare as they rubbed against the soft blanket.

Only odorning a black tee shirt that covered her panties, barely shielding her from the cold outside. Thanking the heavens for the hearing system as she laid there, contemplating.

Agoraphobic played in the speakers as she laid there, drowning out any and all noise. She had grown a strong liking to the artist corpse, finding herself playing his music or humming the lyrics through the day. Vinnie would sometimes make fun of her, saying that she loved him more than her own boyfriend. She would scoff, kissing his plump lips, reminding him the love she had for the curly headed boy.

The song finally ending, changing to the next in her playlist. A smile disarming at her lips when she heard it. While agoraphobic was her favorite, there was just something special when she’s hear e girls are ruining my life. Vinnie would joke that this song was meant for her, how it reminded him of her each time he heard the lyrics.

She held her phone to her chest, looking up at the bright led lights above her. ‘Fuck it’ she thought, pulling her phone from her chest, going to the App Store, and downloading the one app she swore she’d never use.

One video she thought, just one. She looked at his videos first, reading a few of the contents, her heart thumping in her chest. An outcry of people asking him to have her make an account, some even begging him.

It wasn’t that she hated social media, it was just it had never crossed her mind as something she wanted to get into. She knew how popular vinnie and his friends were, having seen them when he would show her. She had especially been worried about making one when she first started dating him, fearing someone would find out and out them before they were ready.

She was even more fearful in a way when they announced it, fearing the ridicule she would face if she made one. But the amount of love people were showering both them and her in each of the videos, made her heart soar in her chest. Finally making her decision, she got to work.

His phone was vibrating in his pocket, confusion filling him. It wasn’t a phone call, no, it was notifications going off.

He pulled his phone out, seeing a plethora of tags from his friends flash over the screen. His brows knitted together in confusion, not understanding what was going on. Why was he being tagged and sent this one tiktok?

He got his answer when he opened a link sent by Jordan. He red the text from him, even more confused when he did. ‘You have to see this.’ The text red, seeing a link sent right after.

Shock filled him when he watched it, questions filling his mind as he sat there, eyes glued to the screen.

It was a video posted by his girlfriend, from her own account. It was simple really, well, that’s a bad word for it.

She sat on the floor, leaning against their shared bed. A mirror proper in front of her, showing her and their empty bed.

He had the mirror installed in front of the bed a month prior, contemplating on having it placed above the bed.

It was a surprise for her, having it done the day of their 5 month anniversary. Worry filled him that she wouldn’t like it or find it weird, but he was proven wrong that same night. It was one of the greatest nights they had, finding every way to fuck in front of it, their pleasure heightened with being able to watch as they both came undone.

Since then, they used it every time. Being able to sit in front of it, with her facing it as he makes her watch as he slams into her, loving being able to pull her hair back as moans slip from her lips as he makes eye contact through the mirror.

She sat on the floor, only wearing one of his black shirts, barely covering her clothes core. She was sitting there, a chuckle making its way out of him when he heard the song. He knew if she ever made an acount or video, she would use one of corpses songs. She loves his music, barely being able to deny the fact due to how much she’d listen to him. E girls he knew was one of her favorites, finding her humping the lyrics on the daily when she’s being going the most mundane things.

His eyes bulged out of his head when he looked behind her, his heart thumping in his chest even worse. His cock throbbing in his pants when he saw it.

There in the background, was a pair of handcuffs secured on their headboard.

Having used them only the night before, his cock grew almost painful Ashe thought of the memories.

The sounds of her moans ripping out from her as she tried pulling free her hands as he rocked harshly into her played in his mind. Making it nearly impossible to concentrate on anything beside her and the memories. And the thought of what was to come when he got home.

His heart pounded in his chest when he looked at the comments, one sticking out. People had caught on to the handcuffs, not many, but the numbers were rising. But one comment, had one reply. ‘ARE THOSE HANDCUFFS I SEE 👀’ it red, being highlighted by being liked by the creator, with a reply by creator. ‘Like my bracelets? 😊’

His footsteps echoed throughout the large home, barley being able to hear them due to his heart pounding in his ears. He could feel the blood coursing through him as he bears his door, hearing nothing from the other side.

He opens up the door, instantly his eyes trained on her like a hawk. There she laid on their bed, again, only clad in his shirt.

Her eyes met his, a smile forming on her face. “Hey lovey.” She chirped, getting up from their bed, a pep in her step as she neared him.

She got up on her toes to reach him, him bending his head down, connecting their lips in a sweet kiss. She could feel the need in his lips as he wrapped his arms around her torso, feeling him tighten his grip ever so slightly.

He opens his mouth slightly, darting his tongue out, licking her lip lightly. Her granting him access as they stood there in each other’s arms. She pulled away with a chuckle. “What’s gotten into you?” She asked, a teasing smile on her face. “Take a wild guess.” He grunted, crashing his lips to hers again. She pulled away again, chuckling at his grunt of frustration when she did. “I don’t know? Tell me?” She teased, making his grip on her tighten even harder. “Maybe, it has something to do with that little video you posted. Maybe it might also have to do with the fact that you hadn’t hid those handcuffs. Now everyone will know.” He grunted, tightening his arms even harder around her.

She could feel his cock pressing hard against her stomach, excitement growing inside her.

He leaned in to crash his lips with hers again, but she out her hand in the way before he could. He looked at her questionly, making her chuckle. “Before we do anything. I need your help with another video.”

It took every ounce of sheer willpower for him not to bend her over and fuck her right there when they recorded it. His cock throbbing even worse the longer it took. But in the end, even he had to admit, it was worth it.

Same song as her last one, only this time, the video was entirely different.

She had the camera facing her side profile, her facing him and not the camera. Him discreetly out of the frame.

As the lyrics started, he reached his hand up, grabbing her by the throat as she lip synced the lyrics, his hand having a firm hold on her delicate neck. As the song continued, he moved his hand up, pulling her bottom lip out, sticking his thumb between her reddened plum lips.

She gave a simple caption, one they knew would make everyone who watched it go insane. ‘The other version.’

A groan rips from the back of his throat, her hands tangling in his curls harshly. Their tongues battled as they pant, neither one wanting to pull away from one another.

His hands held tightly to her thighs, gripping the soft flesh as a moan rips out of her. His rings axing to the sensation as she pulls his hair even harder.

He pulls his lips from hers, letting out a chuckle when she chased his lips momentarily. He duped his head down into her neck, running his lips along the skin, until he felt her legs wrap around him as a moan slips past her lips. He starts sucking harshly on her skin, feeling her trembling under him.

He widens her legs, looking down between them, letting out a grunt. He can see the wetness through her panties, nearly smelling her desire. He pulled them down her legs, watching in amazement when she opened up her legs to him. He had seen her naked plenty of times, but it still caught his breath every time he saw her core.

He went back to her neck, sucking on the bruised skin. He ran his hand down her thigh, feeling her tremble as small whines slipped past her lips.

He pulled his head from her neck, hovering his lips just enough over hers. A smile broke out on his face as his fingers finally met her core, a large moan breaking through her.

His fingers rut harshly through her velvety walls, making her yell out. His cock throbbed in his pants as her core sucked his fingers inside of her, making him want to replace his hand with his painfully hard cock.

She can hardly breathe as his fingers hardly pound inside of her, waves of pure bliss engulfing her at the feel. His rings adding a level of chill, making her shake as he speeds up.

He dips his head back into her neck as he bites her skin, rutting his hips into the mattress to relieve some of the pain.

As if it couldn’t get better, she feels him thrust his fingers even faster, making her jump when he hits that one spot. It’s been his mission, every time they had sex, he had to hit it each time. Whether it was with his cock or hands, he had to.

He feels her walls tightening as her moans grow louder, feeling her walls quiver slightly. He speeds his hands up, adding his thumb to rub her clit harshly, making her cry out. “Yeah that’s right, such a good girl.” He whispers, making her cry out. “God I love how your walls just squeeze my fingers, wishing it was my cock. Wouldn’t you love that? To feel my cock pound inside of you? To have it suck me dry as I make it mine forever?” “Yes! Please!” She yells out, making him chuckle. “Then cum for me sweet girl.”

A large groan breaks out of him when she lets out a yell, thrashing around as he feels her release, feeling her core tightened and suck his fingers inside of her even more. A cry breaking past her lips as it all grows too much.

She pulls his pants from him, eagerly trying to rip them from his body.

They both lay naked, chests flushed together. He feels his heart hammer against his chest, feeling hers beat in the same rhythm.

A groan slips past his lips as her hands glide along his shaft, making his arms shake as pleasure courses through him.

He grabs his cock in his hands, lining himself up to her entrance. A hiss breaking past him as his painfully hard head slips between her lips, the wetness of her core nearly making him explode.

He lays his forehead on hers, both taking in a deep breath as he eases himself inside her. They both shudder in a breath as he enters her, both shaking as his cock slides inside her. “Fuck I love your pussy baby.” He groans out, kissing her sloppily. He momentarily doesn’t move, stealing his breath.

He did this every time, always giving her a couple of seconds to get used to the feeling of his cock stretching her. Always easing into it slowly, rocking his hips at a slow place, gradually increasing his speed of his thrusts.

He wasn’t much of a speed guy, he always would go slowly but hard, not growing in speed till they both neared the edge.

He pulled out slowly, slamming himself back in hardly, moving her and the bed back as a cry rips out of her. He feels her walls close tightly around him as he thrusts inside of her, making him groan out. She pulls his hair harshly, pulling his head back as he hisses out. Making him slam into her harder.

They both can’t help but yell out as time passes, making it nearly impossible to stay quiet. His cock slamming into her harder, a cry ripping out of him when her nails take down his back. Making him arch into her. His hand slips from her thighs to her neck, pushing on the sides as she struggles for air.

Their lips collide in a sloppy kiss as his thrusts speed up, his hair sweaty and dangling in her face.

Knots grow in their stomachs as they feel their release approach, making him speed his trusts more. “I-I wanna cum. Please vin, fuck please.” She moans out, making him grip her hip even harder. He bends his head back into her neck, biting the skin harshly as his thrusts grow sloppy. “Hold it.” He grunts into her ear, making her cry out as she tries to ward off the impending orgasm.

He feels her wetness seeping down his thighs as he slammed even harder, making her cry out as she shakes, trying her hardest not to cum. “Fuck vinnie I can’t, fuck please I can’t.” She sobs out, tears streaming down her face as she shakes, using every last strength inside her to hold it. She feels it breaking as it approaches, nearly breaking as tears stream from her eyes. He gowns out in her neck, feeling her walls tighten and shake as he tries holding on. “Cum for me.” He groans out, a groan breaking through him as she screams out. Wave of pure Ecstasy take over her body as she squeezes him inside her, making her cry out as she violently thrashes.

He can’t hold it any longer, feeling himself break as he yells out a deep groan as he cumsinside her, making both shake as her walls suck out every drop he lets out, making him shake as waves of white hot pleasure rake over one another.

They both lay there, his arms giving out as they shake. Their arms grabbing onto one another as they try calming the aftershocks of their orgasms. He uses all his strength to lean up, connecting their lips as they pant.

Feeling themselves sink into the soft mattress, they both lay on their sides, his clock still buried inside her, making both their eyes grow heavy. Before they fall into a deep slumber, they connect their lips.

[homobiwan]

The most telling tip of the hand on tiktok’s part is how they are directly responsible for suppressing creators of color’s voices

Creators of color already have a hard time with engagement on their videos because of the way viewers will reward white content creators for the bare minimum but barely interact with creators of color who are giving just as much effort or more. However, creators of color also face a good deal of racism, both from white people’s videos and in our own comment sections. White people weaponize the report feature, reporting videos and comments made by poc addressing racism on the app and getting the videos taken down and the creators temporarily banned.

(ID in alt text)

I am currently temporarily banned from posting after I made two videos addressing a content creator’s racist remarks, using videos that they of their own free will uploaded onto tiktok. Both videos were taken down for “bullying and harassment” and “hate speech.” When my mutuals reported the original videos, tiktok rejected their reports, saying that these videos did not violate the guidelines. According to this logic, being the original uploader of racist remarks is okay, but another individual reposting them to warn people to block is hate speech and harassment.

I am not the only creator of color to have dealt with this treatment. Multiple poc have been banned permanently because they have called out racism both on tiktok and irl. White people are given license to say and do the most hateful, vile shit, and poc are suppressed when we try to fight back.

It would be remiss of me to neglect to mention that I am East Asian and light skinned and therefore do not experience racism or colorism the way other poc, especially Black people, do. For such creators, the discrimination and scrutiny they face is much worse.

Most of the criticism I see about tiktok is that it’s a cringe app with dumb trends, immature discourse, and song lyrics taken out of context. These are criticisms and discussions that should be had. However, I can’t help feeling like poc are fighting an uphill, losing battle to maintain our right not only to address racism but also to simply exist on an app and goof off. It’s hardly a safe environment for poc even if they don’t center their account around activism because white people WILL be racist. In comments. In duets. In stitches. And tiktok punishes us for fighting back. It’s just frustrating to me that this is not often addressed outside of tiktok in favor of making fun of teens and adults lip syncing to the newest trending song lyrics.

[madfantasy]

I haven't seen you post in a while, I hope you've been doing okay? How is everything? Hope it's been a good year so far for you 💕💕

You're too kind, u & everyone who made inquiries, bless ur hearts.. im sorry for disappearing, but yeah, I don't have net— using my phone credit and hope this posts..

I tried to record my voice answering this, like I sometimes did on tik, suddenly ended up trying to muffle the floods of my burning tears, so now I have an awkward vid of me talking then weeping out of nowhere, which a good reason for me to keep up the no cry habit, heh.. but seriously, I suppose I'm fine till I be conscious of it.. its much easier for not to talk .. even tho I'm aching to be back in thy company, lonely in my foresight to catch on to the present that joins us, hand held out to reach like minded souls but shying from the fear of forgetfulness occurring..

I'm fine tho, did few new stuff, merely drowning in too muchness and nothingness as usual, this month I guess you could say I took an act of mad fury in search of any happy source because the echoing silence and the swarm of sadness nipping on my brain cells thickened, and the reasoning merged with the obscene. So instead of giving my guardians the usual of 3/4 of my earnings last month for net and groceries, I spent it all. Ya know, as it was told to me it mine to do as I please? As being prevented any chance of work if it was possible, 't was supposed to be spent on art supplies & measly delights craved for years ?

Before hand, I've been begging them to take me for months to get any clothing or whatever, be it the first time I ever see a shop, then just to drive around, then just me peaking to the outside when the front door is open, merely seeking change I suppose. They kept vaguely promising me until they refused point blank— getting tired of my nagging, then their car just stopped working till this day. Its in the workshop rn..

Anyway, befouled by despair, needing the mere basics of life and not granted, I was delighted when i found a site to buy from cheap & pretty, I pressed buy without any further considerations, or taking their permission and thrilled to be able get gifts for my siblings too. I say gifts but really they are deprived necessities too and not even much just one each cuz well, they are 5 of my babies and to start with the top of priorities; we all draw

I could already see it, they can't help themselves; heck seeped through the clenched gates of their mouths, trying desperately to poison me with undirect attempts this time, cuz I bought for my sibs they're out of the option of calling me selfish. I was upping the same trance like state of vague existence dealing with them, absorbing their insults and degrading just to make sure my shi arrives safe.

Unfortunate for me, the site chose the worst carrier in this country

I did everything in my power to make it into their convenience, by embarrassingly messaging the carrier daily, they took a week of promising to deliver and flanking so my guardians reached a heated level of threatening, waving their hands nd almost tossing shi at mE saying that they don't care if they came and if i dared to order something again they'll do this and that. Not allowing me to open the door for the delivery guy when he comes, blaming me for missing vaccination dates (they kept missing them even before)& missing going to important places(again, they just didn't go to for ages), made them loose sleep, etc etc— in turn, I seen red and regretfully blew up.

I screamed at them its literally the only time I ever did this, it BECAUSE it easier on them & I'll do what I want whatever anyway, & to stop interrupting me while I try to explain things , then they suddnly back done and be like I'm not mad at u I'm mad at the delivery ppl, that they are proud of me for being able to do all this, and such sort. I left them to cool in my room, Idk how I did it but must have slam-gripped something so hard it chipped most of my short nails & cracked one, was glad I didn't hurt my drawing hand but yeah, goofy mani

They robbed me of the joy of anticipation & the dissipation of apathy, I started to lose sleep again and my liberating dreams left me and I don't think I remember leaving bed.

But still, If not force myself to do things.. there'll be nothing for me if I don't.. at least I know im able of that

I got my guardians happy tho after another tiresome refusal, by trying out one of those Uber-eat like local apps here, since they have no car and being disabled & ill, I ordered McDonald's for the first time. Slythry behind their backs per habit, told them someone coming and they had that look again, but thankfully the guy came through and didn't steal my money, heh. For a big 1800 calories meal I suppose it was passable, the happy fam faces I got was the real treat..

Oh with that thing with the credit card stating I owe them money, waited weeks & nobody got back to us? They started taking from my guardian's account directly to pay it, saying oh we did send you warnings--- TO THE SHADOWY LINES OF THEIR POSTERIOR A.K.A NOWHERE. Thankfully the account is mostly empty nd just for random transactions, i alerted my guardians not to use it. And again, my god, another round of endless calls and promises started, and we wait again so they just don't act as if we owe them a frking 17k dollars that we don't have.. was panicking cuz I have nothing and but my guardians were weirdly comforting about it and told me not to worry

One thing good bout no net is it made me stop thinking about life in general, and stop the tiny unnoticeable prick of misery when I have no input to share, trying not to helplessly compare people just living, in inflated style or not, in media, to my isolated-most-of-my-life style and missing much of that organic "life experiences and chances", heh. At least, my situation would be favorable to me if it was ever possible for it to let me have peace, or have the simple knowledge I'm not virtually imprisoned and have never familiarised with nothing of this world but the surrounding walls.. its nice to have more time to be consumed by muse and day dreaming that flutters life through my dull being and sing chorus of inspiring means for art to flow and finds its way delicately onto my realised canvas.. but no, I continued drawing whilst sight blurred with salty droplets contradicting that happy tintin dance on tiktok I worked so long on just cuz I couldn't stop, not the tears or the mad scribbles of determined intention to visualise the mourned excitement I need, hating everything I make

Somehow the lilac dream still intrudes, visualising me friends, living, in a quaint home, maybe we roommate, arm in arm we go to make every fracture of fate's encounters a disgusting adventurous thrill, like building a maze of cardboard or chasing each other in the dark.. maybe getting that half bleached head and endless ear pericings ... then it dies and I totally forget it..

But what those awesome headphones helped me do, literally blocks all their voices listening to Sev losing it and I can Waltz around not feeling gutted to go and interfere or play the referee each time. But I can't wear them forever, gives me a bad headache, and honestly; I can't be too neglectful.. my sibs hates me for it already hehe

At least these clothing came true to their measurements, felt the new sensations on how everything I wore hugs me & learnt the baffling ways on how "gender" and region plays different tunes on the same measurements. Getting fitting things felt like suddenly there's hope to be, for myself to be me, and ease this severe disassociation between who I am, and what my body is .. from how little I see myself nd consider it worthy of anything because of how long it been living like a phantom among people.. to numb this dysphoria until it be gone one day

Saddened that the only site I can't order from again if they keep using that awful carrier

...

I missed our country's 91 national day, too. They made sales everything 91 riyal so.. but knowing the sellers here, I don't think most of em went true with their offers.. Horrible news tho on the celebrations, sigh

I turned this into a dear diary, guess bothered you enough today, sorry

So thankful to yous, Idk if I can be back, but I'll remain creating, and will keep the thought alive of being tickled when sharing my creations with your viewing pleasure somehow

'till then my precious dears, take care 💛🙏

26.9.2021, 8 pm, sleeping

[tsuna-mayos]

as someone who was using a dial up connection at ten years old in the early 00′s, i am finding i recognize the internet a little less every day.

now this is not something i am saying as an old person who isn’t up to date on the new stuff. i have been an active user of pretty much every form of social media going back to xanga, and as a person who did not have a lot of friends locally for a long time the internet was my primary form of socializing with others who shared my mindset.

this is coming from someone who finds it hard to see how the internet is influencing our well-being and how we experience society around us. it’s such a multi-tiered effect, and it influences everyone on every political and social spectrum. it pervades our existence now in a way it didn’t maybe eight years ago. as a child i always believed in the internet as our way to access information and education, to see the world outside our borders, gain broader understandings and even find interests we never would have otherwise knew existed.

i still feel that way, but i also feel that it has taken a backseat to something so new i don’t exactly know the right terms for it at this time.

while i always knew the age old “if you saw it on the internet, it’s definitely real /s” adage, it’s getting out of hand. while i always checked up on sources to see if something was a hoax or not, i found there was some solace in knowing some reputable sources existed. now i find it’s very hard to fact-check most sources i once found reputable. i also feel as if the new influx of internet users don’t even know or think they need to do that. the things i see people believing entirely are something out of a science fiction novel, now. it is so upsetting to use any social media and see those things constantly trending and re-appearing on dashboards and timelines. false narratives are normal. it’s so hard to be faced with that every day.

not only that, but i am bone-tired that every website, social media or not, has become a place where people are just duking it out constantly. while it is important to have an open dialogue about important points, it is also sometimes matters of trivial opinions like which show is better, or which definition of something is more valid. the social media i grew up with was more blogging until myspace and facebook, but even the early days it was more of a social place. we shared interests, we founded circles of friends. we came together. now i feel it is so hard to find a place to call your own tribes. we as a people across all traits are constantly redefining enemies and no longer seeking friends. when i log into things i am just... depressed. i miss being parts of groups where we used to uplift each other. i just don’t see as much of that anymore as we used to have. in passing i’ve seen polls where people say they are too afraid of confrontation to make friends, and the internet accounts they have leave them feeling more lonely than ever. they are afraid to admit things like what show they like or that they actually like that band that everyone hates. not even high ranking political topics but... entertainment.

i don’t even recognize a lot of news sites anymore. some of the headlines are just shocking... how can someone call themselves a news agency and publish some of the stuff they do? shouldn’t there be standards that say you can’t just make up something wild to stir people up and broadcast it to the world? a lot of this gets tangled up in the internet now when it goes viral, and a part of me wishes these crazy lies would just not get shared so the story dies. it’s the kind of stuff that doesn’t dignify a read or a share.

not to mention what the internet does to our self-esteem. i used to be happy when i was online. i used to see what my friends were up to and be happy for them. i used to share stuff. my timelines and dashboards were always an interesting read. now it’s hard to go on and feel better. websites like instagram push you to perform constantly like a trained monkey and penalize you for using other apps or taking a break. creativity doesn’t abide that way, and it’s no surprise we have such bad burnout under the stress. i won’t even talk about facebook, they killed the reach for creatives and small businesses years ago. plus, instagram is just this slideshow of people showing you how much better their live is than yours (spoiler alert: it rarely is unless you follow a rich influencer who was likely wealthy and privileged before they signed up for an account). twitter is impossible, it’s just become an angry swarm of different kinds of hornets.

like many people, i took a break from my creative work on instagram during the pandemic. it was hard to look at people going out in spite of lockdown, and it was hard to push myself to create when i was just living in a place of pandemic fear and uncertainty. when i did post again ready to continue my commission work, they punished me. my reach dropped from 500+ per post to 12 per post. my content did not change. immediately, this made me feel like no one cared about my work anymore, and that i was forgotten (especially as many of my friends continued to be productive and post nearly daily during the pandemic and kept their engagement levels). i really thought no one cared about my stuff anymore. that is the lie instagram wants to tell you to force you to keep going. they use secret programming they won’t disclose to destroy your self worth and force you to use the features they want (such as the act of using their video editing app gets you higher reach than if you uploaded a tiktok video). why are we even using things like this anymore when we know how they make us feel?

it’s not that the internet is all bad. we have done so many great things with it. it has changed our lives for the better in more ways i could list and it has made a lot of advantages easily accessible for people who did not have those advantages before. it’s just... i miss the days before any of this was normal. we used to install anti-malware and now we give all our life’s information to facebook and we don’t bat an eye. we used to be private and anonymous and now we’re telling everyone everything at great personal risk. we have lawmakers engaging in immature twitter fights, for crying out loud.

i have no idea how to combat any of this. it’s a problem so great it is international. how can anyone reclaim the internet and suck out all that poison that invades our lives?

[web-of-fics]

About Love

Request from anon: “Hi! I was literally at the park when I came up with this but can a get a fic where reader and peter go to the park at sunset cause you know the lighting is just 👌 and reader just chills on the swing and Peter starts doing stupid stuff so reader just decides to record him? Thanks”

Writer’s note: this song was playing in my head the entire time 😊 also, reader doesn’t know Peter is you-know-who

Words: 1109

✎_____________________________________________________________________

Being in the park felt weird for several reasons. First, there weren’t any kids running around. Maybe the cold temperature was keeping everyone at home. You seized the opportunity to perch yourself on the swingset you were much too old for, twisting the toe of your sneaker into the dirt below. Second, the setting sun was accompanied by an aura of forbiddenness. It was like being in a grocery store after it closed. It still existed during nighttime hours, but not for the purpose it was intended for. The third--and probably the weirdest factor of all this evening--was that Peter Parker was sitting next to you. 

It wasn’t the first time you’d hung out or anything, but for some reason this just felt different. Maybe it was the fact that you weren’t also accompanied by the other members of your friend group. Maybe it was the way his hair curled in the humidity and bounced into his face every time he looked up. But it probably had the most to do with the orange glow cast on the landscape by the setting sun. You felt like you were in a cheesy rom-com. As soon as you had the thought you tried to shake it away. You had a massive crush on Peter, but you also worked extremely hard not to let that get in the way of your friendship. Ever. 

But it was. So. Hard! 

Peter, always with more energy than he could spend emanating from him, sprang up from his swing and began climbing the supportive metal bar. He inched his way along the top like a caterpillar, then dangled from his knees, looking down at you as his body swayed agilely. 

“Peter!” you giggled like a nervous mom who was half-entertained by her rambunctious kids and half-terrified for them. 

He extended his arm down and you reached to meet it with your hand. He clasped your fingers for a moment, steadying himself. 

“Hang on!” you said, squirming to work your phone from your pocket. “No pun intended,” you added.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said genially. 

“You better not,” you mumbled, opening the camera app. “Okay, smile!” You leaned back and aimed the lens up at him, catching your clasped hands in frame with his goofy grin. “Got it,” you said, hating the feeling of him letting go of your hand. 

You expected Peter to struggle on his way down from the bar, but to your amazement he stood on it with abnormal confidence. Before you could scream he hopped blithely to the ground, unfazed by the 9-foot drop. 

He laughed at your expression. “Parkour?” he joked. 

“My gosh Peter,” you said, your heart steadying. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were some kind of ninja spy.”

He approached a wooden picnic table, seemingly decided there wasn’t a challenge to be found with it, and gazed around at the surrounding tree to  compare the branch placements instead.

It was easy to see where this was going. You swiped the camera app until it was on video mode and pressed the record button.

 Peter made a show of trying to climb the trunk that was five times his size by wrapping his arms and legs around it and inching his way up. He backed down and continued backing up. You couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he used the space he put between himself and the tree as a running start. 

Your mouth hung open. Was he serious? 

Apparently he was, because he charged up the tree and into the tangles of its leaf-barren branches with the practiced motions of a tree-climbing Olympian. He gestured for you to join him. You cut the video and walked to the bottom of the tree. He was a full body’s-length above you.

“You can’t be serious,” you said.

“Try me,” he reached down, once more taking your hand. Before more doubts could cloud your mind, he yanked you up to join him. He seated you on the sturdy branch across from his. You rested your feet on the branch below. They wobbled with nerves. You weren’t a fan of heights. 

“Look, someone lost a kite up here,” Peter produced a torn red-and-yellow scrap attached to a long white string. He wound it up and attempted to use it as a yo-yo. You laughed and aimed your phone at him, recording again.

“I really need to make a TikTok account that’s just clips of you doing dumb stuff,” you said.

Peter continued fighting to make the kite behave like a yo-yo. “Does that mean I’m gonna go viral?” he said eagerly. 

“No idea,” you said. “But I would hope so. People seem to like it when other people almost die doing stupid stuff.” The words were out of your mouth before you’d thought of any potential consequence to them. 

Before you knew it, Peter had abandoned his toy and was climbing bonier and bonier tree branches, aiming for the brittle top. 

“OMG Peter stop it! Peter come down! Peter!” the words poured out in your panic, only egging him on. He reached the top and waved one arm out, leaning away from the precarious tree King Kong style. 

He climbed next to you and noticed the sheer panic on your face for the first time. He beamed. “Like that?” he said casually. You punched him in the shoulder. “No!” you said angrily, but you were both smiling. The orange light from the setting sun caught the back of his head, giving him a halo. On the swings, there had been some distance between you. Now, you were both huddled against the tree, bracing yourselves against the brittle wind. Without the sun, it was much colder outside. 

Peter and y/n sitting in a tree... you couldn’t help but think.

“I should probably help you down,” Peter said suddenly. “It’s getting dark out.” 

The light caught his hair. You couldn’t bear to let this moment end. 

“Maybe in a few minutes?” you said timidly. “It’s nice up here. I don’t usually get a view like this.”

He nodded and smiled. “Okay.”

You sat in silence for a while. Eventually, you rested your head on his shoulder and scrolled through the videos you took, asking Peter for input on how you should cut and post them online. 

The sun set, but you didn’t go home for another hour even after you posted the videos. By the time you did leave--with a lot of help from Peter to get down from the tree--the moon was out and you were convinced you couldn’t ignore this crush any longer. 

_______________________________________________________________________

Just one more before bed? Click here for a masterlist of my fics!

[antiracistkaren]

September 18, 2020

So the word has come down upon high (from Trump himself) that Tiktok is (again) done as of this coming Sunday.

This time, I am a bit more wary. Why? Because Oracle is the company that bought TikTok, and the owner of Oracle--Larry Ellison, who is work $76 BILLION with a B--is “close” with Trump.

According to the AP report written by O’Brien and Tardel, “Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is unusual among tech executives for his public support of President Donald Trump, hosting a fundraiser for him in February at his Rancho Mirage, California, estate. The company also hired a former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence; its CEO, Safra Catz, also served on Trump’s transition team.“

That’s to say the least! We always need to be looking and seeing who the PEOPLE are being awarded business, and lucrative business at that, but we cannot ignore that fact that “...Oracle co-founder and chief executive Larry Ellison hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his Rancho Mirage, Calif., estate in February.“

Employees have been troubled by Ellison’s open support of President Trump. George Polisner, 57, who had worked at Oracle on and off since 1993, posted his resignation letter to LinkedIn after the company's co-CEO Safra Catz joined the Trump transition team and was said to have privately dined with the world leader. "I am not with President-elect Trump and I am not here to help him in any way," his public resignation post read. "In fact when his policies border on the unconstitutional, the criminal and the morally unjust I am here to oppose him in every possible and legal way. Therefore I must resign from this once great company."

These things are not occurring within a vacuum. We as a public must be clear-eyed about what is happening here.

I also want to share something that I wrote and posted on FaceBook in defense of TikTok as a community tool:

A Defense of TikTok, an essay

I know that it’s not cool to like TikTok as an elder Millennial. I am supposed to sit here and say that it’s not cool, and we invented the internet, and make jokes at my own expense about how old I am getting.

But I can’t seem to do that.

All y’all who are looking from the outside in at TikTok, seeing these fraught negotiations about getting bought, and securing data and are screaming for TikTok to get shut down; for those of you judging those of us on TikTok, I’d like to give you the view from the inside out, and why I will continue to fight for the existence of this, or an identical platform like it.

1. It creates a digital community in a time when social community cannot safely exist.

I, like most of my millennial brethren (and some Gen Xers and woke Boomers) downloaded this app because we noticed that the videos that were lifting us up out of our houses (in which we were trapped). It was a place where people were showing the inside of their own cells.

TikTok has created a community that feels real in a time when we all feel trapped. It’s better than TV in that you can engage with it. You’re limited on time, so you really must pare down your message if you’d like it to get engaged with. Yes, I am aware that this is a double-edged sword. Distilled messaging can be questioned, which is why responding to comments with clarifying videos in important.

The community that responds to these questions—your followers—are very good at pointing out your blind spots that strengthen your argument. This works for both sides.

In a time when we are all isolated, building a true digital community that is made up of uplifting content, empowering content, and ways to engage with communities you would have never seen make it a powerful tool in the pandemic.

2. TikTok’s hashtags encourage chasing diverse voices and similar voices, and diverse voices promotes compassion

Due to the nature of TikTok’s algorithm, it is possible to influence the content that TikTok serves your content to, and who serves their content to you. It CAN indeed create a vacuum, for as you tell TikTok who you are (by engaging with content), they’re also learning who you’re not. They will serve up content then that lines up with content you’ve engaged in.

However, because it’s cold and we are smarter than computers, it is simple to hijack a popular tag and expose a broad audience to an inclusive message, an educational clip on culture, a restful place to stay, and most recently: organizing voters of all ages.

So if you’re committed to diversify the voices in your life. If you’re hungry for an Indigenous point of view, you can seek it out. If you’re seeking out a homeless point of view, there’s millions of TikTok creators, but you must seek them out via their hashtags.

Tiktok has the power to introduce those of us who have the luxury of a nice private cell (in our homes) and personal corona virus pod (a car) to those of us who do not.

3. When community and compassion intersect, there is opportunity for change.

From the inside of TikTok, it feels like we [the users] are starting to break down some of these painful untruths that we’ve all accepted up until now. It feels like on the individual level, people are changing their minds.

When we build a community based on celebrating the individual, it is impossible for hate to thrive. TikTok has given those of us hurting from mental illness, depression, loneliness, anxiety and (Surprise!) Autism a place to talk about how hard this is. In Person! Safely.

And because we have started talking about how much of a toll this extended coronavirus pandemic is having on all of us, we’re starting to see that we are all connected right now. TikTok has this insidious way of showing you humanity, because it is intimate. It is you and one other person. You can happily support those you love, and leave those that aren’t for you.

TikTok is a target because of data. I know that. But I am begging us to find some other way, because the transformations that I am personally witnessing through this app are extraordinary and should be honored.

It’s hard to judge something from the outside. Please come on in and add your voice, and fight for your right to your data, too.

And in closing, if you’re hurting and need some face to face time with no pressure, then I would go to TikTok and find the Community you need, and then find a community that stretches you. And stick with it.

It is a tool that can help us in many ways if we choose to wield it wisely.

[gigsoupmusic]

PUBLIC discusses TikTok fame and why people are falling in love with their story - Interview

If you look at PUBLIC the band's, Facebook page, you will see listed under their interests "You." The more you see from PUBLIC, the easier it realize that their interest really is the fans. Seeing the band perform live is electric, full of energy, and even acrobatics, a PUBLIC show becomes a true party. In an interview with GIGsoup, John Vaughn, the band's frontman, said this of their high energy act "I think that once people are in that room, we are kind of responsible for showing them a good time, letting them escape for a little bit. We don't really know any other way..." PUBLIC consists of three friends John, Ben, and Matt that met in their high school jazz orchestra class. What once was three classmates making music in orchestra or Ben's childhood basement has transformed into a music career in which they have opened for big names like Twenty One Pilots, AJR, and American Authors. "The three of us have been through a lot of different things, and all the while, it has been just like the three of us like you said having faith in each other and having faith in our music." Says John. People came to learn about this band of three friends from Cincinnati, Ohio, when their song 'Make You Mine' became a viral TikTok trend, being featured in over 2.5 million videos. This sudden TikTok fame has seen their streaming numbers for 'Make You Mine' grow over six million streams each week. I asked John the most significant thing to come from this sudden TikTok bump, and he told me it is that people are learning and loving their story as friends from high school that have been creating music for years. That's why people are interested in it beyond just liking the song. https://youtu.be/WMXPi4FXTXM "It's like wow, this band has a story. This band has been honing their craft for actual years now." John said, "This band has been opening for a lot of really big artists but haven't really done their thing yet or had their time." Aiming for positivity and being able to connect with people through their art PUBLIC, has a story that is still being told. The band recently signed with Kevin Jonas Sr.'s management group and their "dream record label," Island Records. These groups are all committed to helping PUBLIC take their act to the heights they have always dreamed of. I had the chance to talk with PUBLIC lead singer John Vaughn for an interview. We talked about where the band started, going viral on an app they had never heard of, working with a team of people versus self-production and releases, what to expect from PUBLIC in the future, and the song John most wants to cover on a future headlining tour. Read the full interview below. https://youtu.be/HG2tpVCPVaU Hi John, Thank you for taking the time with me today. I'm excited to talk to you. Now PUBLIC is on tour with American Authors and Magic Giant, and I saw you in Salt Lake City, and you guys were electric! Like I'm pretty sure I saw someone doing a flip at one point, and there was so much energy you had on stage. How has this tour been, and is that the energy you have always had on stage as a touring band? John Vaughn: Yeah! Well, first off, thank you for coming out to the show. We appreciate it. But yeah man, we kind of have like a creed or a code which is just like that we try to give the same show whether it is fifty people or it is twenty thousand people. We try to convey the same type of enthusiasm and energy every time. I don't know, it's like the people just show up, and it doesn't matter how many people show up, those people showed up to see you, they are there to enjoy music, they are there because they love your music, and you need to give them what they came for. I think that once people are in that room, we are kind of responsible for showing them a good time, letting them escape for a little bit. We don't really know any other way, we get up there, and kind of feed off each other and are full of energy. We're hyper, and we are musicians, and so energy is just kind of our thing. I wanted to talk about some of that energy and chemistry PUBLIC has as a band. I read how you met in high school in a jazz orchestra class. If someone would have told you back then that you three would still be creating music together, what would you have told them? John: We never really had a different plan. Obviously, we have been very realistic, and this is a really hard industry to break into, and we have been, I would say doing this professionally since a little after high school. As in like we have been working with other people and releasing music professionally and stuff. But I don't know man, it's like very surprising because we are working with our dream label now (Island Records,) and we're getting to do the things that we have always seen other "real bands" do, and we are doing that stuff now, and it's truly surreal. But at the same time like I said, we never really had an alternative plan, and we have always really believed in the music we've done. Which is because we have always put everything we have into the songs. For the longest time, we also just wrote, recorded, and produced everything ourselves. It has always been a really DIY project for a very long time, so it is really cool and also very fresh and new for us to be now doing things that involve other people and like this is the first tour that we've been on where we actually have a lot of other things happening outside of tour. Like tour is just one of a few different irons of the fire that we have going on, and that is totally totally new for us. I'd like to say it is surprising, but at the same time, I have always believed in what we're doing. I love the belief that you have had in yourself and each other as a band. What has been the most rewarding part of creating together for so long? John: I think it would specifically be that we trust each other, and I think we have all learned how to exist with each other. It's a lot like a relationship that you might have with somebody. You have to learn how to argue, and how to be honest with each other, and learn how to go through really tough things. I think we have really done that now. The three of us have been through a lot of different things, and all the while, it has been just like the three of us like you said having faith in each other and having faith in our music. It's kind of hard to pick one thing but the most rewarding thing, but I would say I had an experience at one of the shows on this tour where this really young girl came up to me and told me that she turns on our music when she feels sad and that it immediately makes her happy. For some reason just that little girl saying that to me because I was just picturing her in her room having a bad day and then turning on a PUBLIC song and she was crying when she said it to me she was crying and like giggling at the same time and sort of couldn't really control herself, and it actually made me start to cry to and I had to like hide my face while I was finding something. It was very humbling because you can kind of lose sight of why you're really doing this when you're like on the road and it's tiring, and you're doing TV, and all this stuff and people try to make you feel like you are cooler than you are. But at the end of the day, some little girl coming up to me and saying that "Your music literally brightens my day." It's very humbling and I don't ever get used to that and like I need to hear that more and more, sometimes you get too wrapped up in like the business side of music business that sometimes you forget how much it impacts someone emotionally. That is one big reward. That's a great point. I love that you said that. I think a lot of the way PUBLIC is able to connect with people through your music comes from the connection you have as a band. https://youtu.be/nLnp0tpZ0ok I have to ask John, does 'Make You Mine' get stuck in your head as easy as it does mine? John: I think, um maybe. Well, probably not like it does yours because it is our song. But the thing I think that we are experiencing right now is that there is so much content that we are doing right now with the song and so much content that we are seeing online and in different places with the song. It's kind of like whether we like it or not we are hearing it at least one hundred times a day it feels like. I almost can't tell if it is in my head or playing off of someone's phone in our van or something. I follow the hashtag #makeyoumine, and I think I see that song set to like 25 different videos each day just scrolling down my Instagram timeline. It's an ear-worm. I don't hate it yet (laughs.) Like people talk about that like "oh, we got tired of our own song!" and we have always been like "Wow, that sounds like a great problem to have." You know, to us, it's like that's our baby out in the world that has all of a sudden become other people's baby. So a big part of that content you mention seeing your song everywhere is from 'Make You Mine' become a major TikTok trend. How did this whole TikTok thing happen with 'Make You Mine'? John: The thing with that is like we didn't start it, it wasn't engineered by us or anything. We didn't even know what TikTok was, and to this day, I don't think we really know who did the first video that went viral. We talked to some TikTok influencers these days, and they've talked to us about like the first time they made one with it. But we don't really know where it started. We just started to see a really nice spike in our streaming numbers at first, and we were kind of like you know like 'Make You Mine' has always been a fan favorite and stuff, but our fanbase just hasn't been that big... and now people started tagging us in videos and sometimes it was like somebody was posting a TikTok on Instagram, and we would see that and their logo and we started to wonder what that was. Then we saw like a montage of like the characters from your favorite movie like Harry and Hermoine from Harry Potter, and it was set to 'Make You Mine,' and we were like "this is so internet, what is this?" Then obviously after a few months are team started to take notice too because it was just becoming too big for us to not try to do something with it. Long story short, the sound has been used over two million times, and TikTok we started contacting people that worked with TikTok to make sure our name was on the song, which is actually a good point because right when we first started seeing the videos, nobody knew that it was by a band. It is crazy how a song can just exist out there in the world, and no one really cares who wrote and recorded it and performs it. So I think I spent like a whole couple of days one time and compiled a list of videos using the sound and just said, "Hey, this is our song. There are thousands and thousands of videos, and our song name isn't on any of it. How do we change this?" They were really awesome, and that's when the dots started to connect, and people were like "Oh, this is by PUBLIC. They are a band that is active and have energy and are out there now releasing music and playing shows." https://youtu.be/LIBi7RMEy-g So I interviewed someone that won the TV show The Voice. I tweeted out the article, and he retweeted it and all of a sudden before I knew it I had a bunch of follows and retweets from a bunch of older fans of the voice that were on Twitter. So there was this bump from The Voice, and you've talked about seeing this increase in streaming numbers. But just how crazy has this TikTok bump been for streaming, for your shows, and for PUBLIC? John: It's been crazy specifically because that story that we are a band out of Cincinnati, Ohio that has been independent for a really long time and hasn't really broken per se, and the story that we are a band that has been doing that and all of a sudden had a song that has exploded on TikTok which is a new app, and that is really why it has been crazy. That's why people are interested in it beyond just liking the song. It's like wow, this band has a story. This band has been honing their craft for actual years now. This band has been opening for a lot of really big artists but haven't really done their thing yet or had their time. So people like Kelly and Ryan, getting us to play was like our first national TV debut. It was really the story that they loved was us as high school friends that started a band, and now our song is everywhere because of this crazy app that is also everywhere. So that is really the gem of it right now. It is just kind of this interesting path for a band to go on. https://youtu.be/1cOUo5XzRN0 It really is an interesting story. You talked about your story is also still being written now and is focused on how to evolve next. PUBLIC has been self-releasing things for a long time, what has it been like working with a team like Kevin Jonas Sr. and like you mentioned earlier your dream record label with Island Records. What has it been like working with them compared to on your own? John: I mean, just first and foremost, they crush it. Like Island, their team is incredible, and that's really why we went with Island Records. We had immediate chemistry, and we liked from our first conversation with them they were talking about vision and where we want to go with the band rather than like "you guys are having this little flash in the pan moment right now, and we want to capitalize on it" it was very much like you guys have put in the work and you guys have been around we want to help take you guys for the long run. So obviously that has been radio promo and marketing help, and I'd say marketing has kind of been our weakest thing just because we've never had a team around us. Having people getting us TV spots, and doing interviews now, or podcasts, and we've never touched anything like that before. So they have crushed it there, and it is also like this co-laboring thing, you know? They want to come in and like take what we are doing and expand it. They want to blow it up, while also like providing us with anything that we need to make that happen. Which does include guidance strategically a lot of the time, too, which is cool and very new. Then obviously Kevin Jonas Sr. is a very connected man, but back to the brass tax with him too from our first conversation, we liked Kevin because he is a good guy. We have met a lot of people in this industry, and a lot of people that have not seemed trustworthy to be honest with you and I think it is an industry that can really bring the worst out of people because there is a lot of potential money involved and you really have to be careful. From the get-go though with Kevin, we could sense his passion for music. Music excited him, his eyes lit up when he talked about songwriting or singing, and just obviously the stuff he did with his sons too. Back when they were first starting out, I loved that threshold they were at and it was just great chemistry. All the while, it has been very new though, because we have been so self-sustaining for the longest time. We're not just learning how this works. We are also learning how to let other people come in and like help us. We just haven't had that before. We haven't really known how to let other people do that for us. https://youtu.be/ldElCttO1kk Again, I love your story and just how you got in contact with Kevin Jonas Sr. and I won't make you retell the story, but basically, your dad randomly sat by someone at a conference that knew him and was telling him about your band, and a connection was made. What is next, and what are you excited for in this amazing story? John: PUBLIC's story I think because 'Make You Mine' isn't that new of a song (laugh) the app just kind of breathed new life into it. At the same time, it's interesting because we have been pushing a song and have more current things that are unreleased. I would say for PUBLIC's story. I would say that I am excited to like we are kind of thinking about maybe putting together a whole new body of work, which is a whole new process with like a record label involved. I'm really excited for us to put our next foot forward. Some of the music that we've written recently we've been finding times to write on the road and we are beyond excited about it and it's so fresh and so new feeling. At the same time, we feel like this new audience that we are receiving is really going to love it, and that is really really freaking exciting. For me, I am working on navigating the balance of art and commerce with label life. I'm just learning how to be a very positive person in this industry. I hope that anyone I come in contact with feels like I'm a good guy and someone they can trust. I want my eyes to be on the right things, which is art and human connection and just kind of being there for each other. Now, John, I have a question I ask in every interview before we close. I am very interested in real musicians that play on stages all over the world, one if they are interested in doing karaoke, and two what their go-to song would be? Do you have a go-to karaoke song? John: Dang! Dude, I don't know if I have a go-to song so, I will just say what my last one was. I was downtown with my family, and I think it was back in the summer and my younger brother and I did 'We Will Rock You' really late and here is the thing... like no one can do Freddy Mercury, and Queen is just so incredible, and that's not even my favorite Queen song. Anyway, we had this thought that if we go up there and just really sell it that everyone will get riled up. It's like the National Anthem for white people... like "We Will Rock You" and we went so hard and I actually think it had the opposite effect. We were doing 'We Will Rock You' and I think people actually liked it less because we were taking it so seriously. We ended up walking out and it was a totally weird situation, but it was so funny, and we were laughing. So I don't know man if that's a go-to but 'We Will Rock You' was a challenge. That's the perfect story, and it brings up one more question. Did you do the stomp stomp clap in the song? John: Yes! Yes! Like no, we ripped right into it, and I like was in the crowd. I was like, "Okay, I do this for a living, I can get a group of people who have had a few drinks to rally behind us" and that is just not what happened. Very humbling. That's amazing! Is there any chance that will be covered by PUBLIC in the future? (laughs) John: I will absolutely say that I have pitched that to Matt and Ben probably about sixty times. I think they are right. Their response is always if we do a headlining show and have some momentum and people that will get behind it then that is probably the time. So I am like okay that's fine. Well when that day comes on your headlining tour, I'll be there stomp stomp clapping right along with you. John: (Laughs) I expect it... front row and you've got to back me up. I appreciate your time John and I am so excited to see as the PUBLIC story continues to be told. John: Yeah man! Thank you so much for your time. That was a great interview. Great questions! Check out more from PUBLIC on their Website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Read the full article

[thisdaynews]

TikTok emerges as Silicon Valley's scapegoat in Washington

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/tiktok-emerges-as-silicon-valleys-scapegoat-in-washington/

TikTok emerges as Silicon Valley's scapegoat in Washington

The newfound focus on TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance most notably includes a national security review being conducted by the Trump administration. And, though TikTok declined to appear, scrutiny of the company proved the main theme of a highly critical, if sparsely attended, hearing before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday.

Here are some of the tech policy debates where the rise ofTikTok is proving timely:

Stifling speech

Critics accuse Facebook, Google and Twitter of failing to appropriatelymoderate content on their platforms, particularly controversial political speech. Democrats say they’re too permissive of lies, hate speech and harassment, especially from President Donald Trump and his supporters, while Trump and other Republicans say they’re too eager to censor conservatives.

Now the companies can point to TikTok as an example of how not to handle online speech, as lawmakers like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — who chairs the panel that held Tuesday’s hearing — raise fears the company is bowing to censorship pressure from Beijing.

“I would bet that Facebook is having a field day with this,” said Samm Sacks, a cybersecurity policy and China digital economy fellow at New America. “At the very moment when Mark Zuckerberg and the company has been under immense scrutiny here at home, we now have a perfect foil. You don’t trust Facebook? Well, just look at TikTok. It’s brilliant.”

Zuckerberg has already spent weeks warning that free speech is in danger if China sets the terms of online expression.

“China is building its own internet focused on very different values, and is now exporting their vision of the internet to other countries,” he said during a speech at Georgetown University last month, throwing a red flag to critics clamoring for U.S. regulators to hobble Facebook’s power and influence. “Until recently, the internet in almost every country outside China has been defined by American platforms with strong free expression values. There’s no guarantee these values will win out.”

While dissidents around the globe use Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp to communicate, TikTok has faced accusations that it censors mentions of the anti-government protests roiling Hong Kong, Zuckerberg noted. “Is that the internet we want?” he asked.

TikTok disputes such accusations. Before Wednesday’s hearing, its U.S. general manager, Vanessa Pappas, sent a letter to committee members asserting the platform’s independence from the Chinese government, writing that the company does not “remove content based on sensitivities related to China (or other countries).”

“We [have] never been asked by the Chinese government to remove any content, and we would not do so if asked,” she wrote.

A TikTok spokesperson added: “The more Mark Zuckerberg has come under scrutiny, the more TikTok has shown up in his speeches, interviews and op-eds. You would have to ask him if this is pure coincidence.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Hawley proved skeptical of that claim, calling on TikTok to “now appear under oath to tell the truth about their company.”

Still, the lawmaker told reporters after the hearing that he’s not inclined to give Facebook and other tech heavyweights a pass in the face of Chinese competitors.

“Thankfully, they’re not the Communist Chinese government, but I don’t know that they’re exactly good actors, either,” Hawley said of U.S. tech platforms.

Mishandling sensitive user data

TikTok’s Washington woes are not limited to Capitol Hill. The Trump administration is reported to be probing potential national security risks stemming from ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of the app Musical.ly, a deal that helped create TikTok in its current form and precipitated its surge of popularity in the U.S.

It’s part of broader criticism of Chinese technology behemoths that has festered in Washington for years and is now exploding amid Trump’s trade war with Beijing. Citing national security concerns, the Trump administration has slapped Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei with trade sanctions.

The anxiety around TikTok centers in part on fears that the data it collects on its U.S. user base could make its way to the Chinese government. “When aggregated, the data could be useful in improving Chinese machine learning tools to help China better understand, predict and manipulate the behavior of Americans,” said Jim Baker, a former FBI general counsel who is now director of national security and cybersecurity at the R Street Institute.

Facebook and other tech giants havefaced criticism for obscuring their own uses of consumer data and failing to handle it securely. The leak of Facebook data to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica before the 2016 election yielded a record $5 billion Federal Trade Commission fine and helped inspire national calls for data privacy legislation.

Nevertheless, Silicon Valley may now find itself positioned as the transparent alternative to China.

“Instead of importing the values of censorship and control to the U.S., we should be exporting our values of openness and transparency to them,” Kara Frederick, a fellow at the Center for New American Security who previously worked at Facebook, said at the hearing.

TikTok says it stores data from its American users only in the U.S. and Singapore and doesn’t even have data centers in China. But that doesn’t satisfy critics like Hawley, who maintain it would be a trivial matter for Beijing to demand the company hand over data anyway.

All the same, questions about TikTok’s data privacy practices are a reminder that China does not adhere to existing global privacy standards and that its own data governance rules are “very much a work in progress,” said Paul Triolo, who heads the geo-technology practice at political consulting firm Eurasia Group.

“If China remains outside of these regimes, Chinese firms, not just ByteDance/TikTok, but bigger players like Alibaba, will indeed be used increasingly as foils around D.C. debates on data privacy,” Triolo said.

Upending big tech’s market dominance

When Facebook was called to testify in July before a House antitrust subcommittee on the state of internet competition, then-public policy director Matt Perault identified TikTok among the rivals nipping at its heels. The fast-growing social network is already proving to be a primary exhibit as Facebook makes a case for why it doesn’t have a monopoly on social media.

“It plays on their side politically because it does show, again, competition is real,” said Atkinson at ITIF. “It can happen very quickly and it can certainly be Chinese competition, which we’re going to have to grapple with.”

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg made similar points in media interviews earlier this year, arguing that dismantling Facebook, as some Democrats want to do, could leave a vacuum for Chinese counterparts to enter. Already, Chinese firms like Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent and Baidu rank among the world’s largest internet companies.

Since then, federal and state antitrust enforcers have nevertheless launched investigations into both Facebook and Google.

“On the one hand, I think it’s absolutely a legitimate concern that if you don’t have U.S. companies playing a big role, if you were to break them up, et cetera, you could have voids which could well be filled by Chinese companies, which could create serious problems,” said Ed Black, president and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Google, Facebook and Amazon.

“Having said that, it shouldn’t be a basis to excuse legitimate inquiry and scrutiny of companies,” he added.

Silicon Valley’s own China ambitions

The debate around TikTok may also renew gripes about American internet firms largely being excluded from the lucrative Chinese market, even as Chinese rivals gain a foothold in the United States.American firms have been eager to expand into China but have stayed out — or been kept out — due to censorship concerns and other barriers to entry.

“This is a very salient issue and will become even more so as other Chinese social media and e-commerce platforms expand outside of China, even as …. most regulators assume the Chinese government will have some access to data collected by Chinese companies,” Triolo said.

Heritage Foundation tech policy lead Klon Kitchen noted at Tuesday’s hearing that under a Chinese law that takes effect in the new year, foreign firms doing business in the country will also have to comply with government data demands.

Google already sustained sharp criticism from lawmakers this year after reports surfaced that it had worked to build a censored search engine, dubbed Dragonfly, to comply with the Chinese government’s demands. Google’s vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, told a Senate Judiciary panel in July that project had been terminated.

The rise of TikTok and the reported national security investigation are bound to draw more attention to what it takes to do business as a tech company in China. And on that front, Silicon Valley may struggle to use the upstart social media firm as a scapegoat.

“The TikTok investigation will undoubtedly spark new debate about how and whether Google could reenter the China market,” Triolo said.

Cristiano Lima contributed to this report.

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[madstars-festival]

AD STARS JURY 2020: SASCHA KUNTZE ON HIS VISION FOR BBH SINGAPORE

We are honoured to have Sascha Kuntze, Chief Creative Officer at BBH Singapore, on the AD STARS 2020 Jury as an Executive Judge.

When Sasha Kuntze arrived in Singapore after 11 years in Dubai, he was fascinated to discover a different mindset around structure, rules and predictability – it was a world away from his previous life at the creative helm of Ogilvy Dubai.

Last September, he moved into the role of Chief Creative Officer at BBH Singapore. He’s been focussing on launching a new entertainment platform and a new series, while bringing a more entrepreneurial, audience-focussed mindset to the agency. We are honoured to welcome him as an Executive Judge at AD STARS 2020 leading the  Interactive, Integrated, Innovation, Mobile, Data Insights, Social & Influencer categories.  

You recently finished judging the AD STARS 2020 Awards. How did it go?

What I love about AD STARS is that it’s a not-for-profit and also just the fact that it is hubbed in Asia, which gives agencies in this region a bit more confidence to enter their ideas. Not every big international agency wants to enter, and that’s actually good, because it allows regional agencies to shine a bit more – that’s the whole point, it helps to set new benchmarks.

I was surprised to see very little work responding to COVID. It shows a lot of agencies are very busy with themselves right now, and you can’t blame them. I still believe that now is the time for the industry to do the exact opposite: it’s time to be bullish, entrepreneurial and brave. Otherwise, there’s no real change.

You moved from Dubai to Singapore in 2018. Were there any surprises, culturally or creatively, when you arrived?

Every part of the world is flavoured by its culture, which makes this planet so exciting. Dubai is a multicultural hub where I got to know the world without having to step outside: 80% of the people there are foreigners and I met people from countries I hadn’t even heard of before (really!).

Despite its international population, it is centred in the heart of the Middle East and Arab culture. It’s a culture that likes to mingle and haggle. Every project was based on a conversation, and every conversation was built on trust and that trust you had to earn. Nothing was anything set in stone. Everything was fluid. The first thing I recognized when I moved to Singapore was a different mindset around structure, rules and predictability, which are all valued very highly here. I’m fascinated by differences like that. It fuels me.

What changes have you made as CCO and what’s your focus for the year ahead?

We’ve had great momentum from the start. BBH Singapore is a place full of incredibly talented people. My role is to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to contribute and make the agency their springboard to greatness.

The pandemic wasn’t in the plan and we had to adapt a little. We’re over indexing on our entrepreneurial behaviours now and that’s great. There’s a fresh drive to innovate and to write/code the next chapter.

You have been driving brand-funded entertainment at BBH Singapore. Are there any interesting projects underway?

Everything we do is focussed on the audience. So, it comes naturally that we ventured into a space where the audience would actually pay to see what we create whereas they usually pay to avoid what agencies normally do. We’re about to launch a new entertainment platform in the form of a mobile app that has many roles for brands to play. But it’s a platform we launched as an agency because we see so much more potential than if we did it just for one brand.

We’re also in talks with some big-name producers in the US about a series. And we’re constantly experimenting with relatively new platforms like TikTok to drive forms of entertainment. A lot is happening, which is exciting.

Below: BBH Singapore recently developed a ‘Sentosa Crossing’ campaign for  the Nintendo Switch game Animal Crossing, enabling people to visit Sentosa Island virtually during the coronavirus lockdown. 

You began your career making German crime TV series. How has this shaped you as a creative, and why did you leave the film industry for advertising?

I first got into film because I love watching films. So it seemed like a natural fit to do what I love. But it’s more than that. Real satisfaction comes from when your audience loves what you do. It’s addictive. I got into advertising through some random circumstances but I noticed how quickly you could create something compared to the film industry. That meant I could get to the audience quicker. That was amazing.

Having been in advertising for over a decade now, it continues to baffle me how much we still talk about the brand and product sometimes and how little about the audience. With my background I very much have an audience first approach to everything. If no one shows up to see your film it doesn’t matter how great you think it was.

You spent 10 years growing Ogilvy Dubai into a creative powerhouse. What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in turning Ogilvy Dubai around?

The understanding of the value of creativity. In the Middle East, the business model for agencies since the beginning was: sell media and give away the creative for free. When I moved there that model didn’t exist anymore but it explained the state of creativity in the minds of marketers and agencies. It took a good portion of naivety, resilience and determination to show how more creative ideas would make a bigger impact, lead to more fame and new business. As our clients started to see the impact on their bottom line, everything transformed. That took a few years but it started on day one.

It is an interesting time for big tech companies. Do you think they have a responsibility to stop the spread of sexist, racist or extremist views – and what can advertisers and agencies do to use their influence in positive ways?

I believe that every individual in a society is responsible to make it a place where there’s room for everyone. That’s not just the responsibility of big companies. But the big tech companies have changed the game when it comes to share of voice. A lot of opinions and also ‘alternative facts’ are now over or under represented in proportion to what they actually would be, meaning that we now live in echo chambers and see a rapid spread of beliefs like never before.

Up until today it was a no-no to shoot the messenger. Because the messenger was that impartial person delivering news from one person to another. But when there are companies that are profiting from spreading opinions disproportionately, when hate and lies take over, then I’m very much inclined to say we should start thinking about shooting the messenger. In other words, we need to hold companies accountable for enabling misinformation at large in order to profit.

Below: ‘The Autocomplete Truth’ for UN Women, created while Kuntze was at Ogilvy Dubai, achieved 1.2 billion global impressions and was the most shared ad of 2013, according to AdWeek. 

Advertising is guilty of perpetuating stereotypes about gender or race – is this something you are conscious of in Singapore? What is BBH doing to address this challenge?

Singapore is a very multicultural society. The work we do is also regional and global. So we’re naturally very conscious of diversity. It fuels our work. It colours our office. And it should also be reflected in our work. Diversity and inclusion are big on our agenda. We conduct regular bias training and we have formed a strong team around it to keep it top of mind in everything we do. There’s a reason we have a best-in-class maternity policy, for example. Much better than one of the big tech companies we were talking about earlier which everyone praises for their benefits…

Do you have a process – is there a way you work through a problem?

Did you know that our gut (the nerves in our stomach and spine) can process information at 400,000 times the speed of glass fibre internet? While our conscious mind can only do that at the speed of the internet in the late 90s? That gives you an idea of my process. Everyone’s really…

What are you currently fascinated by? Do you have any nerdy obsessions or pop culture discoveries?

I recently started watching Hot Wheels car races on YouTube. With a professional sports commentator talking about the race making it as interesting as any professional sport. So good!

Sascha Kuntze oversaw the Interactive, Integrated, Innovation, Mobile, Data Insights, Social & Influencer categories.  To see this year’s winners, click here.