‘Young Americans Against Socialism’ Permanently Banned From TikTok
On Tuesday, May 4th, my nonprofit organization, Young Americans Against Socialism (YAAS), was permanently banned and removed from one of the world’s most popular social media apps, TikTok. I was not surprised, though.
But once the Daily Caller covered the story the next day and I reached out to them for comment, we were definitely surprised to see TikTok unbanned our account immediately after.
However, the morning of May 6th, I was once again notified that we are banned AGAIN.
Before you jump into: “But Morgan, it’s owned by communist China, what did you expect?” or “But Morgan, you shouldn’t have made an account on the app in the first place,” allow me to explain our rationale. This is an important discussion for conservatives to have.
During such troubled times in America, it is imperative for Americans of all ages to have a factual understanding of US history and economics. Nearly every day, YAAS produces educational videos on these important topics for social media to equip as many individuals as possible with the facts about the threat our nation faces from socialism.
Apparently, to Big Tech, basic information about economics and US history is too dangerous to be included in the public square. Even though our nonprofit’s account had amassed over 30,000 followers in the span of a few months, TikTok ripped our account from their platform and permanently banned us with one short message: “Your account was permanently banned due to multiple violations of our Community Guidelines.”
In 2020, TikTok was exposed for its dangerous ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to Forbes, TikTok was exposed in 2020 for secretly accessing millions of its user’s clipboards, raising serious security concerns considering the app’s communist origins. These reports in 2020 forced our team to initially choose to stay off the app and speak out about the security threat.
But considering TikTok has amassed over 80 million monthly active users in the United States, our nonprofit’s leadership team made the difficult decision in early 2021 to create a free account on the app. By having an account on TikTok, one of the most popular social media sites in the country today, we were continuing our mission to provide educational information on history, economics, and policy to as many young minds as possible. Many of the same content is utilized across other platforms as well; however, we seek to increase our reach whenever reasonably possible – as was the case with TikTok.
Considering TikTok’s well-known ties to Communist China, a regime our organization openly confronts and exposes every week, we fully expected to be eventually censored by these totalitarian leftists who reject intellectual diversity and expression of opposing political thought.
Even though censorship of pro-freedom, anti-leftist content has become the norm, we cannot and will not stay silent as we witness the decline of the values once embraced by America and the West.
Economic independence, freedom of speech and expression, and rule of law make up the foundational bedrock of our American society, and the abandonment of these principles is a sobering foreshadow of what’s to come.
No other information beyond a one-sentence statement provided to us was given. And no avenue to repeal the decision or receive a more detailed explanation of our apparent “multiple violations” was offered. The subjects listed in TikTok’s community guidelines include: “Violent Extremism, Hateful Behavior, Illegal Activities and Regulated Goods, Violent and Graphic Content, Suicide, Self Harm, and Dangerous Acts, Harassment and Bullying, Adult Nudity and Sexual Activities, Minor Safety, Integrity and Authenticity, and Platform Security.”
Considering our organization only produces 501(c)3 compliant educational content on history, policy, and economics, we see no way our content would violate the community standards listed above.
In addition to the ridiculousness of banning an educational charity organization for content violations, the greater slap in the face comes from witnessing what content IS ALLOWED on TikTok compared to WHAT IS NOT.
For example, the North Korean government is allowed to have an official TikTok account to spread propaganda. In addition, individual propaganda pages are spreading the content on their own, including the account @kinezivojnici, which posts content highlighting travel tips to North Korea. In one video from February 2021, he shares five “reasons why you should travel to North Korea,” listing the following reasons: “COVID free, refreshing sceneries, no pollution, awesome food, and beautiful monuments.” The video has 18.9 million views.
Conservative accounts across Big Tech continue to be censored. This is a fight worth fighting, though. We’ll continue to do what we can to spread truth and educational content across all platforms.
