Donald Trump’s handling of the TikTok ban is a textbook example of psychological manipulation targeting Gen Z. Here’s how the strategy worked:
1. Manufactured Crisis
By framing TikTok as a national security threat, Trump exploited the illusory truth effect—repeating a claim until it felt true. Targeting TikTok, a Gen Z cultural hub, triggered reactance psychology, where restrictions fuel rebellion, making his eventual reversal more impactful.
2. Perception of Power
Trump’s decision to lift the ban created the illusion he was more powerful than Congress. This leveraged the halo effect, positioning him as an independent disruptor, resonating with Gen Z’s distrust of traditional institutions.
3. Oversimplified Narratives
The ban boiled down to “Trump vs. Congress,” exploiting Gen Z’s reliance on quick, surface-level content. This relied on heuristics—mental shortcuts that simplified the issue, obscuring the deeper manipulation at play.
Takeaway for Gen Z
Trump’s TikTok manoeuvre reveals how easily emotional triggers and oversimplified narratives can be used to manipulate even the most skeptical generation. The solution? Stay critical, dig deeper, and question who benefits from the spectacle.
Agreed, the whole thing has been transparently political from the start. I do see the liability in allowing foreign nations to collect data on our citizens but TikTok is not the standout they are pretending it to be and US owned apps with bad security are just as if not more risky. It's similar to legislative issues with gun control, drugs and all sorts of other issues - to effectively regulate instead of targeting a specific item it's necessary to define the mechanism that generates the outcome which is undesired and write laws defining the use or non use. If you just ban TikTok or just ban AR-15's exc. Then someone will just dress whatever it is up differently and market the new version like has just happened with rednote and why you can go to gun shows and even mail order mods to turn legal weapons into functionaly automatic weapons exc. Because we outlawed a specific thing but not the thing that makes it the thing that was undesirable.
Even if you grant the argument that TikTok is a major threat and that banning it would do anything, letting it go into effect for 36 hours just to be reversed is not worth the political capital of passing off 150 million people just to have a 36 hour ban
It occured to me after posting that my reply went to the side of your main theme. I agree entirely it's a ridiculously dumb error of ommission and yeah most of those who will be truly angered by the ban won't recall how it came to be, so they'll accept the false narrative.
That's exactly the point I'm trying to hammer on with people online, which incredibly, people just don't want to see...
The average normie who's not plugged into politics 24/7 will only know a few things:
1. Their app stopped working because something something Biden and Democrats
2. As soon as Trump got inaugurated, it started working again, on his day 1 as President
3. Ergo, Trump is the savior of TikTok and free speech.
And this is the kind of narrative that has enough Truth behind that we can't afford to give MAGA the ability to exploit, especially when we're getting literally nothing out of it. Again, even if one is to grant every argument against TikTok, a 36-hour ban accomplishes essentially nothing.
It's just blowing my mind that so many people on our side can't fathom the possibility that we could be wrong... It's really frustrating.
On better news, I'm seeing reports that TikTok is starting to work again, so hopefully, it's working for everyone before Trump gets inaugurated AND—AND—Dems figure out a way to do damage control on the narrative, so Trump isn't able to claim credit for it.
The TikTok Ban: A Psychological Power Play
Donald Trump’s handling of the TikTok ban is a textbook example of psychological manipulation targeting Gen Z. Here’s how the strategy worked:
1. Manufactured Crisis
By framing TikTok as a national security threat, Trump exploited the illusory truth effect—repeating a claim until it felt true. Targeting TikTok, a Gen Z cultural hub, triggered reactance psychology, where restrictions fuel rebellion, making his eventual reversal more impactful.
2. Perception of Power
Trump’s decision to lift the ban created the illusion he was more powerful than Congress. This leveraged the halo effect, positioning him as an independent disruptor, resonating with Gen Z’s distrust of traditional institutions.
3. Oversimplified Narratives
The ban boiled down to “Trump vs. Congress,” exploiting Gen Z’s reliance on quick, surface-level content. This relied on heuristics—mental shortcuts that simplified the issue, obscuring the deeper manipulation at play.
Takeaway for Gen Z
Trump’s TikTok manoeuvre reveals how easily emotional triggers and oversimplified narratives can be used to manipulate even the most skeptical generation. The solution? Stay critical, dig deeper, and question who benefits from the spectacle.
GQ
Agreed, the whole thing has been transparently political from the start. I do see the liability in allowing foreign nations to collect data on our citizens but TikTok is not the standout they are pretending it to be and US owned apps with bad security are just as if not more risky. It's similar to legislative issues with gun control, drugs and all sorts of other issues - to effectively regulate instead of targeting a specific item it's necessary to define the mechanism that generates the outcome which is undesired and write laws defining the use or non use. If you just ban TikTok or just ban AR-15's exc. Then someone will just dress whatever it is up differently and market the new version like has just happened with rednote and why you can go to gun shows and even mail order mods to turn legal weapons into functionaly automatic weapons exc. Because we outlawed a specific thing but not the thing that makes it the thing that was undesirable.
Even if you grant the argument that TikTok is a major threat and that banning it would do anything, letting it go into effect for 36 hours just to be reversed is not worth the political capital of passing off 150 million people just to have a 36 hour ban
It occured to me after posting that my reply went to the side of your main theme. I agree entirely it's a ridiculously dumb error of ommission and yeah most of those who will be truly angered by the ban won't recall how it came to be, so they'll accept the false narrative.
That's exactly the point I'm trying to hammer on with people online, which incredibly, people just don't want to see...
The average normie who's not plugged into politics 24/7 will only know a few things:
1. Their app stopped working because something something Biden and Democrats
2. As soon as Trump got inaugurated, it started working again, on his day 1 as President
3. Ergo, Trump is the savior of TikTok and free speech.
And this is the kind of narrative that has enough Truth behind that we can't afford to give MAGA the ability to exploit, especially when we're getting literally nothing out of it. Again, even if one is to grant every argument against TikTok, a 36-hour ban accomplishes essentially nothing.
It's just blowing my mind that so many people on our side can't fathom the possibility that we could be wrong... It's really frustrating.
On better news, I'm seeing reports that TikTok is starting to work again, so hopefully, it's working for everyone before Trump gets inaugurated AND—AND—Dems figure out a way to do damage control on the narrative, so Trump isn't able to claim credit for it.