Anti-TikTok Ban and Pro-Anti by Rihanna
So what’s going on with this TikTok Ban?
So kind of out of nowhere this week, a bill passed in the House with overwhelming bipartisan support that would force ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to either sell the company to a stateside institution or cease operation in the US. For context, there have been previous efforts to this effect, including multiple incredibly embarrassing (for the legislators, that is) hearings with TikTok’s Singaporean CEO Shou Zi Chew. Joe Biden has said he would support a bill like this one were it to arrive on his desk. It is currently unclear whether the bill will pass in the Senate.
The supporters of this bill bring up a few reasons it should pass, most notably the company’s ties to the Chinese government and the effect TikTok is having on children and teens. It should also be pointed out that the supporters of this bill are heavily, uh, encouraged by US corporate interests, most notably from lobbyists affiliated with Google and Meta, to support this bill.
The opposition to this bill, which is bipartisan but tips toward the left, is concerned about government overreach, the precedent it sets, and said influence of American big tech companies in legislation that relates to their competition. Many of the representatives that I most align with, including Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, oppose this bill.
Not that anybody really asked but I also oppose this bill. I agree that social media and tech companies should have increased regulation, but I find the opposition to TikTok in particular to be in generally bad faith. It strikes me, for example, that many of the complaints and speculation volleyed at TikTok are flags one could raise about our stateside tech companies. I do have concerns about foreign governments using technology to sway American public opinion, especially through the dissemination of disinformation, but it feels a little too convenient for the American legislature to go after one company that might do this and not the multiple American ones who do.
I also sympathize and agree with people who want to curtail the presence of apps like TikTok that are contributing to mental health crises, said disinformation, and political radicalization. But banishing TikTok will not change why people use social media, it will change where they do. So if TikTok’s many users of short form video go to YouTube or Instagram, the cart is still very much behind the horse. And it’s not like YouTube and Instagram have particularly great track records in preventing the spread of disinformation, encouraging the youth, and preventing the vulnerable from political radicalization.
Anyway, curious to hear what people think about this. I can think of many holes in my argument.
Let me know what you think:
arachne music corner
There is a reason that 8 years later, Target is still selling vinyls of Rihanna’s Anti. It’s because it freaking rules.
Rihanna, prior to the release of this album, had spent one decade unleashing the biggest songs on the planet. From the very beginning with “Pon De Replay,” through “Umbrella,” to “We Found Love,” the pop expectation of Rihanna was to provide massive, chart smashing singles. In an era defined by iTunes and the beginning of streaming music, this de-prioritization of “the album” in favor of “a few excellent singles” is a framework through which her first few albums could be understood.
But then we get Anti, her first effort under new management, and the only album in which she is listed as a songwriter on every single song (except for the song that’s a Tame Impala song lol). And this thing is an album. Gone is the over saturation of 3 to 4 minute dance tracks, in are some weird loungey one minute tracks like “James Joint” and the grungy “Woo.” But there are still the ass shakers too!
My personal favorite song on the album is “Love on the Brain,” a classic 6/8 ballad with the charge of modern love. Her performance of this song for her VMA Video Vanguard honor is an all timer.
Anti is delightfully genre agnostic, a hallmark of my favorite postmodernist albums, and executes extremely well in each realm. It is difficult to move in and out of these different sonic places and still present a cohesive album. But I imagine it is difficult to move in and out of being a businesswoman, the spiritual queen of Barbados, a mother, and a Super Bowl performer as well, so she is evidently up for the challenge.
I love Anti. Listen below: