Despite the government’s insistence that TikTok poses a national security risk, many Americans view the looming ban as an attempt to stifle our First Amendment rights. The popular video-sharing platform has brought together endless communities and spread valuable information regarding social issues, something users do not want to lose.
Krystina Ambera former conservative Republican, brought a unique point of view to the conversation. She admitted that her time on TikTok drastically changed her political and moral beliefs.
The former conservative Republican explained how she became the government’s ‘biggest fear.’
“I was a conservative Republican when I joined TikTok back in 2021,” Amber began in her video. “I was a little late to joining TikTok because I was a conservative Republican and I was riding that New-Age-spirituality-to-alt-right pipeline.”
She explained that she was raised in Arizona as a conservative and it wasn’t until she joined the app that she interacted with content that directly opposed many of the things she was taught. She “started learning and started listening,” and with that came a shift in her political beliefs.
“I used to be a brainwashed, conservative Republican with no emotional intelligence, no empathy, didn’t care about anybody, didn’t know any of these issues deeply, didn’t wanna listen to anybody about anything,” Amber admitted. “Then I got on this app and I sat and I listened. I let people connect the dots for me and then I started connecting my own dots.”
Amber recalled that through watching content on TikTok, she became more educated and emotionally intelligent. “Now I’m a leftist,” she added, “like the most far-left person in my personal circle.”
With this shift, she noticed something interesting among the far-right people in her life — “They’re afraid of people on this app learning information and becoming anti-America.”
Amber insisted that the American government doesn’t want people to become educated because it threatens the system.
The conservative Republican party thrives on being able to divide people, and TikTok challenges their ability to do so. When people come together and share information, as they have done on the app, change is far more possible.
What started as an app filled with dancing teenagers became a place for activism, especially with matters related to Black oppression, feminism, LGBTQIA+ rights, and even things that happened across the sea, like the genocide in Gaza. Without TikTok, many people wouldn’t have been privy to unfiltered discussions and firsthand accounts from people and organizations that the mainstream media never would have highlighted.
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“At the end of the day, if the truth and … learning about things and gaining perspectives and whatnot is a threat to a system then that system is a house of cards,” Amber said. “And that’s what we’re witnessing. We’re witnessing their house of cards tumbling.”
“They’re grasping at whatever they can to keep their house of cards from tumbling, but the damage is already done,” she continued. “We already saw too much. We already know too much.”
She encouraged people to stay connected.
Many people are adamant that TikTok’s incoming ban is a way for the American government to control what kind of content we consume. People have pointed out that the censorship of media is common under fascist regimes. But even if TikTok is banned, the fight is not over.
“We gotta be patient and we gotta keep working and don’t be discouraged,” Amber stressed. “Stay connected to each other. Find ways to connect. Write down your favorite people’s names so that in six months, when a new app emerges you can go find all your same people.”
“Connection is so important,” she concluded. “We cannot let them disconnect us.”
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
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