—More ways the 99.9% get shafted

—India falls into trap too

Opinion by Mathew Carr

March 16-17, 2024 — The newspapers are full of ignorance again, covering up how so-called developed nations cheat and lie.

Take today, Saturday.

The Financial Times breaks some fascinating news about how big TikTok has grown: to $16 billion in revenue in the US last year … and its Chinese-based owner ByteDance apparently had $28 billion in net profit globally the same year. Wow.

I’m not criticising the five reporters breaking the news, but the framework of this TikTok news in the mainstream media is shabby indeed. And it’s not the only shabbiness when it comes to controlling ripoff markets and influencing voters.

Lawmakers in the US want to ban or force a sale of the US portion of the TikTok app … and as the FT sort of reports but does not focus on … those politicians are doing that because TikTok has shown up America’s own social media companies … and they are also doing it at the apparent behest of the CIA.

The lawmakers are retaliating against China/TikTok because Meta and X/Twitter are losing in a free market to it. Meta and X are now following aspects of TikTok’s model.

Viewers are watching videos chosen by the platform’s personalised algorithm instead of content created by users’ friends and followees.

This boosts the influence of the platform, and potentially limits the freedom of the viewer. This means the platform wields crucial electoral influence in a big-election year around the world.

The US SAYS it supports free markets but it SHOWS that holds true only when the US wins in them.

Free speech is supported, but only if it’s pro corporate.

Otherwise the cheating and lying comes thick and fast.

Let’s just ban our most successful competitor, seems to be the mantra on TikTok! But it’s not overtly said.

We want all the money and political power! …is the message. Screw the 99.9%.

Republicans are falling into the Democrats’ trap in a miscalculated attempt to stoke tension with China.

Why not do some clever US-based regulation? Is that too much work?

You US Congress folks are just going to leave EU lawmakers to make up for your incompetence … yet again? It’s so embarrassing.

A story inside the same FT tells how it’s the secretive and violent military-industrial-intelligence complex (MIIC) that is CONTINUING to call the shots in the US.

The CIA says “jump” on TikTok and the lawmakers ask “How high?”

The American people choosing to spend time on TikTok in a so called free market? They seem nowhere to be seen in the debate.

What they want does not seem to matter. Their human rights and freedoms? Irrelevant, apparently.

See this bit below of the feature above:

Japan is also at it: corporations seem allowed to REDUCE competition when the fight is against a BRICS country:

Again…the people lose out as real competition is limited … against the interest of the 99.9% of us, who would like to drive a nice clean cheap EV …no matter where it is made.

UK is at it too…oversees ownership of politically influential media is ok, but only if it’s Western ownership:

The West seems to be ramping up its efforts to divide the BRICS in a bid to conquer them…or at least limit their rise.

India has banned TikTok, for instance.

Does India even know it’s being divided and conquered?

PM Narenda Modi, too, probably calculates it’s more important to regain office than truely look after the 99.9%.

It’s so disappointing.