[dauertewigkeit]

I cannot believe that people are calling for the ban of TikTok or X or any other social platform. It's just a gut feeling but it feels to me as though the more the economic situation in Europe deteriorates the more the continent descends into totalitarianism.

[lm28469]

Most countries have laws on TV and radio time per political parties to regulate these things, why not do it on social medias?

Democracy isn't just about voting every X years, it's also about being able to make well informed decisions, which is not the case when a foreign state agent employs bot farms to skew the story. I'm not saying the current system is perfect but clearly sprinkling it with foreign influence isn't going to make it better.

Social medias are the only thing that are still mostly unregulated black boxes, the government knows about the secret recipe of coca cola, or the secret recipe of KFC spices, &c. But the algos of TikTok, Instagram, &co aren't discussed anywhere

If RussCola sold bottles of soda with mercury in Germany would you say it would be totalitarian to ban them? If people want mercury in their cola who are we to judge?

[ben_w]

We have a lot of experience of, and fear of, propaganda in this continent. More so than fear of the lack of knowledge about government failures.

"Freedom from, not freedom to", to paraphrase a recent video I've seen by US migrants to France.

[logicchains]

Given the scale of Europe's economic problems, gaslighting people is the path of least resistance for governments there, as solving the economic issues would be extremely difficult, especially given Europe's demographic crisis/aging population.

[consumer451]

> especially given Europe's demographic crisis/aging population.

This is a problem for all developed nations, is it not?