TikTok's Ban: Navigating Free Speech and Community Challenges

What happens when a platform that has empowered millions faces the threat of a ban? Join me, ChristI Chanelle, as I navigate the stormy seas of a potential TikTok ban and its ripple effects on free speech and community building. Our conversation digs into the heart of how TikTok has nurtured diverse voices and supported personal growth, even as we confront governmental actions that seem intent on muting these vibrant communities. From rolling back women's and LGBTQ rights to the political motivations driving these decisions, I tackle the importance of holding our leaders accountable for safeguarding the freedoms and rights of all individuals.

In an era where real-time connection feels more crucial than ever, hear my personal journey on TikTok—a journey filled with unlikely successes and a sense of community that stands unmatched by other platforms. While I've never monetized my content, the bonds formed and milestones celebrated have been invaluable.  The episode also examines the complex landscape of free speech debates, censorship fears, and the ever-shifting political scene, with a spotlight on the inconsistency of politicians who conveniently change their stance on TikTok to suit their interests.

Billie Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/@MamaBEnergy2
Spencer Pratt {TikTok}
Foulmouth Farmer (TikTok)

Chapters

• 0:00 Threat to Free Speech and Rights
• 4:46 Impact of TikTok Community on Users
• 9:29 Debate Over TikTok and Free Speech

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Maybe everything's going to be fine, we're going to be able to have free speech, we're going to be able to have human rights, we're going to be able to have women's rights and we can protect our bodies, and our bodies are our own or I'm your host, christy Chanel, and this is the Love you Miss you by mini clip. I'm back with just some information that I have been dealing with, and it has everything to do with the TikTok ban. I know I'm spiraling. I'm spiraling. I'm trying not to you guys, I'm trying not to spiral, but I cannot help it because there's so many reasons why, all right and honestly, I probably lose the least.

Speaker 2: 1:01

There are so many things we have seen lose the least. There are so many things we have seen. We have seen community form. We have seen people who love us and we have seen people who hate us over and over again. We have seen people be born. We've also seen people die. We've been through people who were going through a divorce and people who were just getting married. We watched women get out of very violent situations and start new. We watched people recover from addiction because they felt hurt. We watched people learn from addiction because they felt hurt. We watched people learn from each other. We watched people ask questions they never would have asked because they wouldn't have known.

Speaker 2: 1:54

We have seen influencers and learned how to do makeup and bake and clean and craft and bake and clean and craft and sew. We have seen people start small businesses. They didn't think were possible, but one person believed in them, and then another and another and another. And people got to say fuck these corporate jobs, fuck this bad boss, whatever, I have enough people that believe in me and I can start a business and make it be profitable. And they got to be home more with their kids. They got to travel more. Diversity, equity and inclusion matter. We could see that people could be different, not less. We could have those conversations that were difficult. We could say those things because it was to a camera and we were brave enough to post it.

Speaker 2: 2:58

We have become so big that our own government is scared of us, and that's wrong. We elected them. They don't elect us. We elected them and they want to take this voice away from us, and that is bullshit. And they note money, greed and taking away our voice, no matter what that voice was, makes me angry. Those are my tears because I'm angry, but it's also part of grief because we don't have legislation that has the balls to stick up and not say that this was wrong. This was wrong and they know it.

Speaker 2: 3:53

And who holds them accountable? The same fucking people who would tell you that tiktok was bad and passed the fastest bipartisan bill maybe ever, like eight days. Those same people then went on to get fucking TikTok accounts. I'm looking at you, potuss. I am looking at both of you, but I am looking at Trump especially. What gets silenced next? You took away Roe because you wanted it left to the states, but what you really meant was keep rolling it back and rolling it back until you keep taking away women's rights, you shit on the LGBTQ community, especially trans children, trans women and trans men, because, for whatever fucked up reason, you don't think people deserve to exist.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I wasn't a TikTok creator that monetized. I was. I'm barely scratching the surface of 3,000. I never made it to 10,000 to monetize, so it doesn't really impact me there. I never really really did too much with TikTok shop. I don't have any products there. I didn't really push any products. It doesn't impact me there either. None of it affects my money. But what it does affect is my community that I've built, and I'm not just talking about one person, but I like seeing that they got engaged or they're in a new relationship or the birth of their baby.

Speaker 1: 5:37

You know all these wonderful things, there's one that's actually my favorite. It is the canine I forget what you call it Canine bus, I don't know. It's all these dogs, ok, and they are just the happiest little dogs and they listen so well and I'm like I have one dog. There's like 50 dogs on this bus and I have one dog and he doesn't listen at all. I'm like what the hell? But I love, I just love it. I love it.

Speaker 1: 6:02

I have fallen in love with it and I remember in the beginning when I was wondering as a business, do I want to go there? Is it for kids? It's not. I'm so glad I went there, I feel like it's the ending of an era because it's a place where we get instant information and I know it's not always right. Okay, there's a lot of conspiracy theorists which I still entertain. I love to hear it. I'm like, okay, that's a definite different narrative. I love that stuff, but I'm an adult and I can make up my own mind on what I choose to believe and what I don't. It's taught me a whole new perspective on something that may seem very obvious. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it isn't that obvious. Maybe you shouldn't take everything at face value. It's taught me that in one day, it can help an entire family One day. Watch this clip.

Speaker 4: 7:01

My wife is a nurse and she took a travel contract on the other side of the country trying to make ends meet and to reach this goal. And it has been so hard and because you guys were so generous, she'll get to come home and and our baby will get to to have his surgery and we'll and everything's gonna be okay. So thank you to every single one of you guys.

Speaker 1: 7:34

It has taken people everyday, people like you and me, and given them an opportunity to not have to work that nine to five. God I would give anything. It's done so much good. It's done so much good. And the Supreme Court just had their hearing on the 10th.

Speaker 1: 7:52

I am stressed. I am so stressed it's just sad and I wanted to jump on here and tell you that, because if you're not on TikTok you don't understand. But it is the only app that I have found and I am on all of them that makes you feel seen. No other app can do that. It just can't. It's not possible in real time to see about the fires in California phoned and they were on TikTok live and and I'm seeing Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, montag, montag, I'm not even sure how you say it, but I never thought very much of either one of them. The Hills, I didn't care. Ok, I didn't care. I really like Spencer Pratt, I just do. They both lost their house in a fire and he has been working and still is probably is on freaking TikTok right now. He's working around the clock to get his wife's song from 15 years ago to number one.

Speaker 3: 8:56

We spent all of our money on this album Superficial 15 years ago three days ago so January 10th, 2010,. It came, came out. We weren't trying to be reality stars. We're like we are gonna make heidi a pop star. We were a team. Every night when you thought you're watching the hills, we were in the recording studio working with the best every dollar we made from the hills. We put into this album superficial and for it to freaking finally get number one in america. 15 years after, do you know how many times we've cried, how much regret we've had about spending all of our money and investing it and believing in heidi's music, even though we knew it was so good, and for it to finally come out?

Speaker 1: 10:12

and he did it. He did it and that's the power of tiktok, like jenny mccarthy jumped on and said I'm streaming heidi's music and I'm backing them and let's help build their house. And it's like so weird how the world works. It's so weird how the universe works that 15 years ago it cost them everything and it did nothing, and here it is now saving their lives. I'm so grateful because we may not see it. It may not make any sense to us why these obstacles are put in front of us, but we don't have to have it make sense. You just need to trust the journey. And no, it's all for something. It's leading you somewhere and I find peace in that. I do, I find peace in that. But as far as TikTok goes, I don't find any peace in it. Don't find any peace in it Pissing me off Now. I don't know, one way or the other, what's going to happen. And by the time this airs we still won't know, because it'll be airing at like 4 am, but at the end of the day we might have an answer.

Speaker 1: 11:19

I don't see how repressing speech in any way, shape or form is positive. I just don't. And I know you're going to say well, it's a danger to the world. It's a danger. It's China. I'm not saying that there isn't any danger, but I think that there is in every app. I know it's not Chinese but, like Sheen, I buy clothes from Sheen and Timu. Timu is a Chinese based business. Where do you draw the line? I don't know. Maybe you can tell me. Maybe you can tell me, maybe, maybe everything's going to be fine. We're going to be able to have free speech, we're going to be able to have human rights, we're going to be able to have women's rights and we can protect our bodies and our bodies are our own or we're going to be under the regime of a convicted felon and lose a lot.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Now I know you're going to say Trump wants TikTok. This man is known for changing his mind. However, the weather is OK, the wind blows left, he's going left. He's a chameleon to the environment and changes at will to who he's around. So this man, as you know, once said let's ban TikTok, and now he says let's keep it, because he thinks. He thinks TikTok helped him win the presidency. Oh, so now it's cool, right? And the irony here is a lot of senators and stuff like that jumped on TikTok only to say that they're for the ban. So it's okay. If they need help, it's fine. If it's supporting them, then let's do it. Fuck everybody else. Yeah well, I have a fucking problem with that. Thank you.