Revolutionary Algorithms

In April 2024, President Biden signed a bill mandating that the Chinese company ByteDance sell TikTok to an American company, or face a nationwide ban of the app. Denigrated by lawmakers for (unfounded) data security concerns and mocked by many for being just another way that teenagers are rotting their brains, critics of the extraordinarily popular social media app have voiced their technophobia loudly. But as TikTok creator, artist and journalist Torey Akers argues, TikTok is far more than its detractors it is a powerful tool for archiving our digital and visual culture, as well as an immensely potent democratic, informative force at a time when communities’ ability to connect and organize online is vital.