Going to preface this by saying, please bear with me. This is not my usual content, and talking about politics is not my forte. But these past few days have been disturbing, and I need to share why I've chosen to leave my Meta accounts.
TikTok has been banned, and it's looking like Meta may have taken over ownership. This is alarming, and deeply unsettling. I personally love(d) TikTok and thought of it as a very inspiring, free, educational and creative way to connect to people around the world. Not only was it a place to learn new things, laugh at jokes, hear new music, but it was a fast moving news source to many that were directly from citizens that were impacted. So many people made their livelihoods from this app, because they actually PAID their creators. I genuinely loved this space, and feel so grateful to have been open enough to give it a chance.
But then it was stripped away. And now Trump is going to come in, and "save it" and expect everyone to celebrate him and bow down for saving the day. Meanwhile, at the inauguration Shou Chew (TikTok CEO), Elon Musk (X/Tesla), Zuckerberg (META), and Bezos (Amazon) will have front seats, collectively having over one trillion dollars, showing that we are clearly entering an oligarchy.
PLEASE LEAVE META (Instagram, Facebook, FB Messenger, Whatsapp). Zuckerberg had lobbied to get rid of Tiktok because it was it's biggest competition, and many politicians have bought stock in Meta after the ban and they're all getting richer. They're expecting droves to go to Instagram, and sadly it seems to be happening. Not only that but Zuckerberg announced that they are taking away fact checking which is SO scary since we all know that place is full of misinformation and scams. Now with the addition of AI, it's becoming very difficult to separate the lies from the truth. Please leave for your own wellbeing.
I get it. You don't want to go, you've been on them for YEARS, it's how you stay connected with family and friends, it's collected so many memories and photos, it feels impossible to go. It certainly wasn't easy to kiss goodbye to almost a decade of busting my butt and building an internet presence for my artwork.
There are ways to download your data. You will get a nicely packaged zip file, and once you open it there will be more files inside that have photos, comments, or whatever you choose to keep. Depending on the amount of things you want, the time it takes can be hours to days. This is what your file will look like when you open it.
If you are REALLY tied down, I suggest you deactivate your account which means you can reactivate it whenever you want, or simply log out and make a commitment to protesting all of their applications until February. This is the very least, but it will still make a statement.
ALTERNATIVES
Bluesky- I'll be honest, there aren't really great alternatives out there quite yet. The most popular option is called BlueSky, and it currently has a very Twitter vibe. Truthfully, it's not very enjoyable to me, but neither was Twitter. I struggle finding anything of interest on there, and personally feel like I need some sort of algorithm because hunting down each person I want to see is exhausting. HOWEVER, I see it as a temporary space, but it has potential to improve, and the more people that join the better and more interesting it gets. Teams are also currently working on apps that are like Instagram and Tiktok to cater toward video and images, so just be patient. My handle is @heatherihnart.bsky.social
Reddit - More old school Forums style, and less Social Media, but this is the go to place to find answers from other people. I have been told by several people that their art gets a lot of attention there, but haven't explored it personally.
Youtube - Youtube Shorts are surprisingly nice, although they're mostly old tiktoks that I watched years ago. It also doesn't seem to boost smaller creators as almost all of the videos I'm seeing now have millions of likes. But it's not a terrible alternative.
There's others, such as Substack (questionable ethics), Tumblr, RedNote, but I don't see them being major contenders.
If none of these sound good to you, trying a tech detox and removing yourself from all of that nonsense is also a good choice.
I was debating on even posting this, but I'd rather get it out there for anyone that is in the dark about what's going on. It's so crucial to fight right now and to be united.
One last note: WHEN Tiktok comes back, don't use it. Don't. Stand strong.