Meta & TikTok
With how the US is trying to digitally colonize the online space, I think it's soon going to be time for me to shudder the doors of my Meta accounts - if not delete, then just abandon them. TikTok with its likely ban will set a precident that the USA can bully into selling to them any foreign-controlled site, game, social media, or store that it wants to by claiming "data privacy" - which is rich given the USA regularly has to send out warnings to citizens about data breaches of its OWN companies. So yeah, it's a dangerous step in a direction I'm not happy about. META is cozying up to the Orange, and has stated it wants to be the next Elon's Bastardized Twitter. I knew it was going to happen back when they introduced their own version of "being verified" as a subscription service. The service is just working as normal instead of throttling and shadowbanning your posts and profile. I don't think that algorithm throttling has happened full force, but I already see my posts barely getting seen as it used to, and that was the last place I got regular commission work. Upon further reflection though, MOST of my current clients are people who know me/have followed me a while/have commissioned before. So the question - do I REALLY need META for my business to continue? Or is it already shot in the barrel and I should begin cutting it out? I think the answer is clear. I won't pay to make a service work as it should, and I'm sick and tired of billionaires thinking we'll just roll over. Well, ya'll made cost of living so fucking expensive, what makes you think I'd part $20 a month for your shitty user experience?
I'm not a fulltime artist, I'm part time and work a day job. Still, my art pulls in $200-$500 a month and that's nothing the shirk, that's half to all my groceries in a month (I'm a parent and have 5 pets, food is expensive!) NOT TO EVEN MENTION the removal of protection for anti bullying and harrassment of minorities and sexual identities. I'm nonbinary, and ALL MY books are queer. The way the cesspool, ALREADY bad, is going to be even more embolden? It's a fucking joke.
So anyway, expect more of me here. Tumblr and BlueSky are looking to be better than the alternatives. I'll also be revisiting DeviantART more often, as my art still gets seen there the most. Take care everyone, hope I don't annoy yall too much lol
