February 14, 2025 • 36 mins
The TikTok blackout revealed the emotional impact and deep connections users have with the platform, raising critical discussions about cybersecurity and personal dependency on social media. As Brian, Olivia and Ashton explore the aftermath of the blackout, they emphasize the importance of diversifying engagement methods beyond lease digital properties like TikTok for greater security and sustainability in the digital landscape.
To wrap up, we envision a digital world where reliance on leased platforms like TikTok could become a precarious business strategy. Reflecting on the potential ramifications of a Meta acquisition, the conversation steers towards empowering creators to establish stable digital presences through owned platforms like websites and email lists. Practical tips on data management and the importance of proactive planning are shared, equipping listeners with strategies to navigate future trends in privacy and cybersecurity. Join us to uncover the complexities and opportunities of staying ahead in the ever-evolving digital realm.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian Curee (00:01):
All right, well, welcome back to the Mindful
Bytes podcast.
Today we're actually going tostep back a little bit and we're
going to talk about it's kindof old news, but I think it's
still important for us to talkabout going forward.
But today we're going to talkabout the TikTok blackout.
Let's go ahead and introducethe crew.
(00:22):
So I'm Brian, the Gen Xbusiness leader, and I want to
go ahead and say ournon-technical Xenial Shana.
You know that dinosaur lady.
She's napping downstairs rightnow, so she won't be joining us
today.
Olivia Yetman (00:39):
And I'm Olivia, your social media obsessed,
millennial.
And I'm Ashton Curie, yoursocial media obsessed,
millennial.
Ashton Curee (00:45):
And I'm Ashton Kuri.
Your oh what am I?
Gen Z gadget fanatic.
That's what I am.
Brian Curee (00:58):
Say that three times fast.
Olivia Yetman (01:01):
Olivia, you've got to be excited about this
topic today because I knowyou're a huge fan of TikTok
right, I am.
It is my favorite platform outof all of them.
Brian Curee (01:08):
Well, okay.
So, knowing that, I want to askyou back on January 19th.
It's a date that I think hasbeen marked in history.
Olivia Yetman (01:17):
I'm already crying.
Brian Curee (01:20):
What was your initial reaction when it went
black?
Olivia Yetman (01:24):
What was your initial reaction when it went
black?
I wanted to take my phone andthrow it and shatter it.
Brian Curee (01:34):
Oh my gosh, I hope you, like, had an Android, not
an iPhone, right?
Olivia Yetman (01:38):
No, I have an iPhone, Okay.
So the funny thing is my nieceand nephew, who are teenagers,
they like snapchatted me rightaway and my niece was like,
let's go protest in the street.
This is how serious it got.
Brian Curee (02:01):
It got really serious fast.
How about you Like, how big ofa deal was it for you?
Ashton Curee (02:07):
it.
I'm not on tiktok, so it wasn'ta big deal.
You see, I have shorts, I haveyoutube shorts and I have
whatever reddit calls theirshort form.
That's all I need I'll checkthis out.
Brian Curee (02:19):
Hold on, guys, guys look, oh, I've got shorts too
oh gosh I sent him out for thattoo.
Yeah, you did you really did uh, okay, so you don't use tiktok.
Uh, uh, I don't use it.
You know, I know I used alittle bit, but then I got off
(02:40):
of it.
But I, I have to admit and Iwant to ask you your thoughts,
olivia, on this too, becausethis is your area I was
surprised by how people react.
Were you surprised?
I was too.
Olivia Yetman (02:55):
I was surprised in that it actually, like I said
, niece who you know doesn'treally care about anything was
ready to go into the street,like this is something that they
look at as like a cause to befought, and so I, yeah, was very
(03:21):
surprised by all of that, forsure, but I know Zuckerberg was
probably pretty thrilled.
Brian Curee (03:31):
Well, you know, I want to talk about that for a
second too, because I thinkthat's what really surprised me
as well, was how people werereacting.
Now, I had no doubt.
Ashton Curee (03:42):
Can I interject one little question before we?
Brian Curee (03:45):
get too far in.
Ashton Curee (03:46):
Yeah.
Why do you think people reactedthat way?
Was it because they thought itwas an injustice to the company?
Or do you think it was more aconvenience thing, because for
me I look at it as like I couldjust go watch a YouTube short.
I can just go to an Instagramreel.
Is it because their algorithmis so much better?
(04:07):
Or what do you think was thereason why people are so
passionate about it?
Olivia Yetman (04:13):
That's a really great question.
I personally and I'm very muchalso in Instagram and on
Facebook still, you know, useall the platforms.
Basically, I still TikTok is mynumber one, and it probably is
because of the algorithm and youknow the things that I'm seeing
(04:36):
, but also it just feels morereal to me, like honestly, um,
where I feel like even reels area little too polished, um, so
yeah, that's that's why I lovetiktok.
You learn so much on there doyou think that?
Brian Curee (04:57):
do you think you look at it differently because
of being a social mediaconsultant and coach?
Olivia Yetman (05:05):
I don't think I do, and the reason why is
because that's why I do thinkpeople were outraged, right,
because the same thing likeanyone could go on Instagram,
right, but it's not TikTok.
So there is something to that,the way that community is built
(05:28):
on the platform and, you know,like those types of things.
And also it was a huge thingfor creators, which we.
That's a whole different.
Brian Curee (05:39):
Yeah, we're going to get there, yeah, yeah, we're
going to get there for sure, getthere, yeah.
Yeah, we're gonna get there forsure.
Well, you know, I think thatwhen, when it all happened, what
really concerned me more thananything was because, you know,
we're in digital, we're indifferent platforms, uh, we're
gonna talk about some of thatleast stuff.
For sure, we're gonna get tothat, uh.
(05:59):
But one of the things is ittook me back to first off, back
to college, and I had acybersecurity class and I am no
cybersecurity expert, so let mego ahead and just put that out
there.
I mean, I just show you my, Ijust showed everybody my shorts
profile and not everybody'sprobably following me.
It's probably security risk.
(06:22):
But, with all joking aside, I,back in college and this was in
2008, I realized, wow, thecybersecurity threat was a lot
different, like to see and learnabout the attacks that was
happening and that's kind oflike the forefront of like
future wars and stuff, and youcan't.
It was hard for me to wrap mymind around it then.
But now, fast forward to 2025,I'm like, okay, cybersecurity is
(06:45):
definitely a real thing.
But I was shocked more thananything.
I wasn't as concerned as much,honestly, about the threats,
because I don't understand itand maybe one day we'll get
somebody on here to help usunderstand that.
But I was shocked more thananything about how a single app
can have that much of an impacton people, because I was seeing
(07:09):
videos on.
A lot of people went to X.
I was seeing videos on that.
There were things on Facebookand on Reels.
There was people breaking downand crying.
There was people that were veryangry because they felt like
their freedoms were being takenaway.
But what, what I don't know if.
If you know this, olivia, butyou know there's a lot of our
(07:31):
apps like.
I was even reading an articlethat about from cnn I believe
it's cnn business about howchina has blocked most of our
apps.
Already.
They've been blocked blockedbecause we don't want to follow
their data stuff, their datasecurity policies.
I think they blocked Google,youtube X, facebook, instagram,
(07:56):
whatsapp.
No.
Ashton Curee (07:58):
They have all their own versions.
Yeah, they have all their ownversions of it.
Brian Curee (08:02):
So there's a real threat there.
But what concerns me when Ithink of cybersecurity is that,
ashton, if you probably rememberthis, we visited Washington DC
and we went to a spy museum.
Do you remember that?
Ashton Curee (08:20):
I do remember this .
I remember this very vividly.
Brian Curee (08:22):
You do, and it was so interesting, olivia, I don't
know.
I mean, I don't know how muchyou know about like history
stuff I don't know a lot abouthistory stuff either, but it was
cool to go to the spy museum.
But the spies especially inGermany, propaganda was a huge
weapon that they used tomisinform the people of what was
really going on.
And I thought when I saw thisand the things happening like
(08:45):
the app and people saying likethey're taking your freedoms
away, and to know that Chinadoesn't allow our apps there but
they're kind of pushing theagenda of our freedoms are being
taken away here I'm like that'skind of dangerous.
That's a concern I had.
I was like, yeesh, that's likeI could see that propaganda
coming either way.
So I don't know the answers.
(09:07):
I know this is not a politicalpodcast at all and thank God for
that, but it's just like thecybersecurity is real on so many
different levels.
So what are your thoughts aboutthose type of things?
Olivia?
Have you thought about that?
Ashton, have you thought aboutthat?
Olivia Yetman (09:25):
Those type of things.
Olivia, have you thought aboutthat?
Ashton, have you thought aboutthat?
Yeah, well, I like those aregreat points that you brought up
(10:11):
, which is funny because peoplethink like country right, so
they control all their media,because they only put to just at
the snap of a finger whichwe'll probably get into what
actually really happened.
But I don't believe thatFacebook or X or anyone else is
any more safe than TikTok, andthere's a reason why Meta has
(10:34):
different restrictions in Europethan they do here in the US.
So I think that TikTok has kindof turned into the target
because no company has been ableto emulate their app as well.
Brian Curee (10:47):
So, yeah, so I think that.
So one of the things that Iwant to point out that what
you're talking about here too,olivia, is something I learned
back in my college days in thecybersecurity class that I had
was to learn that the, the keyhere, is that when your data,
(11:10):
like, for instance, the datahere that they're collecting,
who knows what they're doingwith that?
But they have to abide by theUS laws.
A foreign country does not haveto, which that's where the,
from my understanding, that'swhere the security risk comes in
, because they can do whateverthey want to with it because
they're outside of our country.
(11:30):
It was kind of concerning to meback then.
I think it was like I said itwas 2008.
Ashton Curee (11:35):
It was with.
Brian Curee (11:35):
Google back then, yeah, back then Google like they
moved.
When all this was being learned, I found out that Google had
set up servers that were inanother country.
I'm like that's kind of scary,but I was just reading the
article that, because of Chinarefusing to do these things with
Google, google didn't like theway that they wouldn't say, hey,
(11:56):
we're going to handle the datathis way.
They actually moved all theirservers back.
I read I was like, ohinteresting.
So there are like I guessthat's where I'm trying to help
educate myself as well on thatLike what, what are these?
What are the concerns?
I don't know what those are,but I also thought, like if, if
(12:18):
the government because I meanthe whole idea of like well,
this was taken away, I get that,but I also wonder how would
people feel if they they foundout that we knew that there was
a security risk and there couldbe high risk and they decided
not to take it away, and theneverybody found out.
(12:39):
Would it be?
Ashton Curee (12:40):
that's yeah.
So that's what's interesting isthat's like the difference in
America and China is Chinaprotects itself by blocking that
stuff, and you know they'reprotecting their own goals.
But here we were built onfreedom and so because of that,
(13:01):
I think a better action would betrying to inform of the
American people of what threatsthere are, versus just trying to
outright block it because itdoes walk that line of okay, if
you're allowed to block this appbecause it's a security threat,
uh, what else can be a securitythreat?
(13:22):
You know, yeah.
So yeah, where is that line ofdo you just inform your people?
Do you?
You know?
Do you go so far as to block it?
And then that's a slipperyslope.
Where do you stop blockingthings?
If it's a security risk to thegovernment but not to us, then
at what point do they become toocontrolling into what China is?
Brian Curee (13:52):
Yeah, does anybody know any facts that they've read
about why they blocked it?
I remember at first what theymade it where government
employees couldn't use it, whichI'm like okay, that makes sense
.
And I can see what you'resaying here too, Ashton, about
informing people.
But where is the line Like, hey, we're going to take it down,
we're going to block it?
I mean they did give themwarnings and we could still see
it go away again.
Though I did just read and I'msure, olivia, you probably
(14:16):
already know this, since you'rea TikToker and you're just not
TikTok just won't stop right.
Ashton Curee (14:22):
Who said that?
Brian Curee (14:22):
condescending.
You're a TikToker, you're aTikToker, you're a TikToker.
I have nothing againstTikTokers unless you're taking
data, but I don't have any dataon there now, except for mine.
No, I was reading that I guessOracle, like US, the White House
, is talking to Oracle and USinvestors about taking over
(14:45):
TikTok.
That's an article that I'mreading on NPR, which I'm like
okay, so like they're working onsomething, and, of course, it
was definitely interesting.
It was like right before Trumpwas taking office, it went down
and all of a sudden, within 24hours, boom, it's back up and
it's thanks Trump, you know.
Olivia Yetman (15:00):
So I'm like there's a lot more going on here
than probably realized butthat's the political stuff
probably, yeah, and I mean, yeah, you brought that up.
So tiktok took themselves down.
Like the government actuallydid not do that, they went black
themselves so that they couldpump back up and put that
(15:21):
message up to the new presidentof the united states wow so and
that is basically brown nosing,if you will um, so wait a minute
, let me clarify.
Brian Curee (15:38):
You're saying that the government did not take
tiktok down I mean theythreatened to do it.
Olivia Yetman (15:44):
But but, but TikTok turned themselves off.
Tiktok did their own blackout.
Brian Curee (15:49):
Yeah.
Ashton Curee (15:50):
Interesting.
I haven't heard anything aboutthat, so won't you think that's?
Olivia Yetman (15:54):
concerning.
I think it's very concerning.
So the other thing I find veryconcerning is them wanting a U S
company to own it but thenletting someone like Mark
Zuckerberg buy it, because thatis a monopoly, which is not
(16:17):
again a good thing for anything,cause then he, this one person
controls, all of you know, oursocial media platforms, and
that's a slippery slope as well.
I mean, elon owns x, but I meanwho's even on that anyway?
But like if they would allowthat, that is very, very, very
(16:41):
so let me read this.
Brian Curee (16:42):
So this way you know too.
So I don't think that's thecase.
I think what's going on isthey're forcing them, like they
have to find someone else tohandle the data, like some of
that, like the control of it.
So what this article says righthere is says the Trump
administration is working on aplan to save TikTok that
involves tapping softwarecompany Oracle and a group of
(17:04):
outside investors to effectivelytake control of the app's
global operations.
According to two people directknowledge of the talks, under
the deal now being negotiated bythe White House, tiktok's
China-based owner, bytedance,would retain a minority stake in
the company, but the app'salgorithm, data collection and
software updates will beoverseen by Oracle, which
(17:25):
already provides the foundationof tiktok's web infrastructure.
So that's a good sign there, Iguess.
Because like, yeah, I wouldagree.
Like if, if they open up doorswhere somebody like mark
zuckerberg or somebody thatcould purchase it, that's not
really helping.
Like that's yeah, you're,you're creating a monopoly and
(17:46):
there's already things there.
If I'm gonna have to haveanother episode, probably soon,
about zuckerberg and uh and metaand stuff, because the thing is
like, if, if they did do that,we know that the thing about
meta is we use all the platforms.
We, you know it's a love haterelationship for a lot of people
, uh, because that's wherethey've always been, but meta
(18:07):
hasn't, I think, even thoughthey've done a good job trying
to.
You remember the times wherezuckerberg was looked at like
some evil, like demon.
You know all his eyes are blackand you know I think we've seen
like a little like you've seenmore than two, yeah, all, more
than two, yeah, all of them andlike like a little like, uh,
like I had like little dinosaurarms.
You remember that one, olivia,right, the picture was like yeah
(18:28):
, but but think about it, I wasjust.
I can't remember who it was.
I was watching.
It was a marketing guy and hewas pointing out how they've
done such a good job ofhumanizing zuckerberg.
They he was not looked at as ahuman being, he's from another
planet and all like over thelast two years you've seen
(18:48):
pictures and videos of himsurfing with his wife.
They've done a really good jobhumanizing him.
But people still have a trustissue with Meta.
So if Meta bought out TikTok,it would be the end of it,
because I think just the namepeople are going to be like no,
it's going to have a bad tastein their mouth and just like
you're saying you would not be.
(19:09):
Would you stay on TikTok if?
No, I didn't think so.
Olivia Yetman (19:12):
I mean I'm still on, you know, I still use his
platforms, but you know like,yeah, that would not be okay
with me at all so?
Ashton Curee (19:25):
so I know you just said that they took their own
app down.
Did they take it off the appstores too?
Because you know, I don't knowif it's available now, but you
know, for a while you couldn'tdownload it off the app store
after the takedown happened.
Was that apple and googlebacking off because they were
scared, or did?
Do you know if they ordered?
Olivia Yetman (19:46):
I don't know.
All I've seen was that theywere responsible for the
blackout and very strategicallycame back up, for you know the
message.
But also what people didn'trealize, which I was even more
upset about, was CapCut is aTikTok product and I use CapCut
(20:09):
every single day for work, so Iwas very upset about that.
Brian Curee (20:15):
And that took longer to come back.
That was big.
That was big.
I was like what?
Capcut's gone.
I did not expect that either.
Now, I could still use it, butI couldn't use any templates,
anything like that.
I could still edit it, but Icouldn't use any templates,
anything like that.
I could still edit videos onhere, but I couldn't use any of
the other extra features on it,like templates, music, the
internet accessible stuff.
Yeah, anything internetaccessible.
(20:35):
It was gone.
To kind of answer your questionabout the App Store action,
from my experience with workingwith apps, the app developer has
an option to turn that off, sothat's probably where they cut
it.
They probably said, hey, don'tturn off the app in these
countries I'm guessing that'swhat they did and then for it to
(20:55):
come back.
It does take time for Apple tosay, just like when you upload a
new page to a website, googlehas they'll decide when they're
going to recrawl it and index it.
So that's the same thing withthe App Store.
You have to wait.
Sometimes it might be 24 hoursor 48 hours.
Uploading a podcast, if Iupdate a podcast it's going to
(21:16):
take so many hours before itgoes across the whole board of
all different platforms.
Ashton Curee (21:21):
It actually isn't up yet.
As of what day is it?
February 6th?
It's not back on the Google AppStore really interesting yeah,
it actually says right heredownloads for this app are
paused due to current us legalrequirements.
Oh, man, we better check it seeif it's on the look at what's
(21:42):
at the top, only the next mostpopular replacement for tiktok
oh yeah let's talk about thathow it's not doing exactly what
people.
Brian Curee (21:55):
Olivia, I did a search for TikTok in the Apple
store and I don't see it.
Ashton Curee (22:00):
Yeah, I thought it had been taken down.
I guess we'll have to do someresearch on it.
Olivia Yetman (22:06):
Oh, that's interesting.
Ashton Curee (22:08):
Is this breaking news.
Olivia Yetman (22:11):
When I search TikTok on my app store, the
first thing that comes up isInstagram.
Brian Curee (22:21):
Do you even see TikTok?
I don't even see TikTok rightnow.
Olivia Yetman (22:23):
No, you can only download the TikTok saver to
save your old TikTok.
Ashton Curee (22:29):
So that's what I was talking about.
I know, right during theinitial like the initial
blackout, they all came off theapp stores and I thought I had
seen something that said thatapple and google because they're
the biggest um app storeholders they basically took it
(22:50):
down on their own behalf and Ididn't know in what level that
happened.
If Apple and Google did it, ifTikTok did it, if the government
ordered it, like, who'sresponsible for that?
Olivia Yetman (23:02):
Oh, that's very interesting.
Ashton Curee (23:05):
I don't imagine.
I mean Google could say it'sbecause of legal requirements
and it's not actually, but Ikind of find it unlikely.
Brian Curee (23:12):
Well, I mean, if there is a security risk and
data transfer, those platformsdon't want to be held
responsible in any way.
Like it's on their platform,right?
This is like where we get tolike, almost like, even though,
like they don't own Apple store,they don't own the Google play
store.
You know, tiktok doesn't own it.
It is a least on their sidewhen it comes to a lease
(23:34):
property.
It's kind of like a website.
Like I can host my website on aserver, but that owner of that
server can decide your websiteis not allowed on here and they
can kick me off and I have to gofind another server.
The only thing here is tiktokhas to find.
Like they only have google playor apple.
So they must have been the onesthat said nope, you're not
(23:54):
coming back on until whateverthis security threat is handled.
Ashton Curee (23:59):
So the only thing I will say is, on that front,
normally the distributor cannotreally get in trouble Like, for
example, google.
If they put TikTok up normallyfrom, from my understanding at
least, they would not be able toget in trouble with that.
There's actually a bigsituation right now in the 3D
(24:19):
printing community where thesewebsites are scared right now of
putting up a certain filebecause of a big drama that
happened, and they can only getin trouble if they actually are
warned, and no warnings everwent out.
So I don't know if the sameruling applies, but it looks
(24:40):
like it's more to protect thedistributor across most
industries, unless they've been,like, warned specifically.
I guess I could look it up, Iguess, yeah, that would be
public.
Brian Curee (24:53):
I guess my thing that I would say is this as a
business owner, knowing theremight be a risk, and how many
people could come back and tryto fight you for it, for
allowing it back on yourplatform, I don't know.
I think I'd hold off.
So I mean taking it from thatpoint of view, but I don't know.
I mean, Olivia, what were yougoing to say?
Olivia Yetman (25:16):
Oh, I was going to say don't know.
I mean, olivia, what were yougonna say?
Oh, I was gonna say, uh, whatdo you think happened after the
tiktok platform went down aswell?
What?
What platform do you thinksurge?
Brian Curee (25:27):
uh, I would say x, but I know that there was okay,
so I know there was a chinabased, which I'm like.
This doesn't make any sense.
What was it?
Olivia Yetman (25:35):
called red red red no and lemon eight and
they're both chinese based.
Yeah, and it was all.
Brian Curee (25:42):
So just to prove a point though, because, like the
red one, it was all in chinese.
You couldn't even yeah it was.
Olivia Yetman (25:49):
It is to prove a point, for sure, but one in
eight, I think, is actuallypretty valid and like a fun type
of thing.
But yeah, um, uh, yeah, so thatthat was just.
Brian Curee (26:04):
I mean it was funny , but I was like, well, you know
, you just went ahead anddownloaded an app that well, I
guess if you get hacked, I meanit's on you.
I'm like I'm not downloadingany app that's in a language I
cannot even understand.
Forget that.
I have a hard enough timeunderstanding English.
I'm not going to put somethingon.
Definitely.
I'm like is that an icon or isthat a letter?
(26:25):
I don't know, I can't figure itout, so I would click something
.
That would be really bad.
Olivia Yetman (26:29):
Well, it's a bunch of things that we're doing
Exactly yeah.
Brian Curee (26:33):
I thought that was hilarious.
I'm like what is this Like?
Should we check it out?
And then I found out it's in awhole different language.
I'm like no, not checking itout.
So what'd you find out, Ashton?
Ashton Curee (26:43):
It looks like there might have been a warning.
I can't verify it right now,but it looks like that.
They're in the public records,in Judy records.
It looks like that there was awarning, but I'm Are you looking
up, like the judge, judyrecords?
Brian Curee (27:01):
Is that what you're looking?
Ashton Curee (27:01):
up.
No, there's a website calledJudy records where you can look
up United States court cases andall this public information.
This is like this, gen Z stuff.
Brian Curee (27:11):
That's why he's like he knows all these
different things to look at.
It's crazy.
But well, I mean, I think thatyou know, I guess my big concern
is well, that's something thatI want to be empathetic to,
because I know there's a lot ofpeople that do rely on TikTok
for their business and,unfortunately, some of them are
relying on their the totalsuccess of their business and,
(27:33):
as we've talked about Oliviawith clients and Ashton, that we
have to be very careful ofbuilding on a lease property,
because there is a very highrisk on any lease property, not
just TikTok on Facebook, onInstagram, it doesn't matter if
it's US, if it's in China,whatever it is.
(27:53):
There are risks matter if it'sus, if it's, if it's in china,
whatever it is, there are risksand you have to be planning on a
way to like, if you're going touse them, have a way to to move
them to a property that you own, because if something happens
just like this, like thisblackout, and you lose
everything what was the app vinethat we've talked about several
times over and over?
Yeah, like, you lose all thoseconnections if you're not
(28:15):
planning for this.
It's a lease property.
Ashton Curee (28:17):
You have to think beyond the lease property you
got to move them to a propertyyou own.
You got to move them tosomething where you can keep
connection with them?
No, definitely.
So what property are?
Brian Curee (28:29):
you going to move everybody to olivia, so what?
Olivia Yetman (28:33):
property?
Are you going to move everybodyto Olivia?
Email is always going to beyour tried and true thing to do.
Right Email for sure.
Brian Curee (28:45):
Yeah, get them your email.
Ashton Curee (28:51):
Why?
Brian Curee (28:52):
don't we just start hosting forums?
Ashton Curee (28:53):
We need to buy a domain and make a forum.
Buy a domain and make a forum.
Olivia Yetman (28:55):
Yeah, that's like really going back, do you
remember?
Do you consider texting owned?
Brian Curee (28:59):
property.
Well, to be honest with you.
So now we're getting aninteresting conversation here
because even I don't considernow this is me personally, I
don't consider email or textmessaging owned property.
Well, where are you supposed tosend them?
Because, like, that's reallykind of like.
Here's the thing.
It's like they are, I guess,kind of like you own the list,
(29:22):
but those people can unsubscribeto your texts, to your emails.
So those are more likepermission-based, like you're
asking them, hey, give me thisinformation, they're giving it
to you.
That's like so valuable, butyou can download that and save
it somewhere.
So you, you know you, so youkind of own it, it's like an
in-between.
Olivia Yetman (29:42):
I guess like that's where you just want to
handcuff everybody.
Brian Curee (29:44):
Handcuff everybody to my desk and a pole and just
be like you're not going when Ithink about like own properties,
I'm talking about like thoseare probably the biggest things.
When you think of owned is likeyour website.
You own that.
So, like, if you're creatingcontent, be putting that content
on your own website that can bemoved and put anywhere.
Your own app Though you have toput it on at least servers.
(30:06):
You can own your own server.
So there are mixtures, butemails and all that are, yes,
important to get.
Ashton Curee (30:13):
That's what you want to get I think what more
qualifies it as a owned propertyis if you have the efforts,
like you own your website.
If your server, you know, getsblown up, you still have the
data.
Well, you should, you shouldfollow the rule of thumb uh to
local one cloud, but you havethat data elsewhere, so that you
(30:35):
can move your data to anotherserver.
Wait a minute two local, onecloud.
What does that mean?
The rule of thumb is, when youare doing anything that is data
sensitive or really honestlyanything, you have two local
saves of said project and acloud save.
So usually one stays on you ona thumb drive, one stays on your
(30:57):
laptop or computer you'reworking on, one stays in the
cloud.
So if your house burns down,well, you have a hard drive in
your pocket and you have one inthe cloud.
Oh, if all the internet goesdown or Google goes down and all
that was in drive, you have twolocals.
You always have something there.
Brian Curee (31:17):
That's the rule of thumb, gotcha that makes sense
and I think that you know,olivia, with what we're talking
about, with owned andpermission-based, I think what I
think you're right like that ismore owned, like you own that
list, uh, it's just there's.
I guess there's.
I look at it aspermission-based, as different
ways you approach these, thesetechnologies to own versus
(31:37):
permission.
But, yeah, you want to gettheir contact information, you
want to store that somewhere,like you're saying.
Ashton, that's a great point,the one you know.
Whatever you said, one local.
Olivia Yetman (31:46):
Two locals, one cloud.
Brian Curee (31:48):
Two locals one cloud, so I should get this pair
of shorts I really liked Ishould get two more pairs so I
can keep one in the cloud, likeon my patio, hanging, and then
two more in my closet.
Is that what you're saying?
Ashton Curee (32:03):
No, the two local one cloud would be you wearing
one pair of shorts, you keepingone in the closet and then you
send one to an Amazon warehousefor them to keep.
That would be your two localone cloud.
That's a good.
I like that.
I like that.
I need to buy my own Amazonwarehouse.
Brian Curee (32:21):
Well, I think that, olivia, I thought it was good
to talk about this because Ithink there are some things that
we don't really know what'sgoing on, but being aware of the
things that we do have controlover and planning for if this
happens again, Will we see moreof this in 2025?
There's a lot of stuff that'schanging with privacy and data
and all these different digitalapplications.
(32:43):
So I think, yes, you can takethe path of.
I guess let me rephrase this wecan take the path of, actually,
ashton, you can edit that out.
So here's my thoughts.
How we react may or may nothelp the situation at all.
(33:08):
So what we really have to befocused on is choosing.
How are we preparing ourselvesfor those unknown, knowing that,
again, these are leaseproperties?
What is our plan?
You cannot rely solely on thatand just you know.
I think that one of the thingsthat I wrote in my notes I heard
(33:29):
a person say this, and I don'tremember who it is.
I'm terrible at writing downnames.
I did not write down this name,but one of the things I heard
was people were going on and onabout how it's a control thing
Now, and people said I'm notgoing to be controlled, which I
get, it.
I'm like one of those peopletoo.
I don't want to be controlled.
But this person said somethingand I was like, ooh, that's kind
(33:51):
of interesting If you reallythink about this.
And it goes back to the spymuseum, ashton.
This person said, if you reallythink about it, everybody is
being controlled by somebody.
And he's like, if you thinkabout the propaganda, if you're,
you might be like oh, I can'tbelieve they took tech talk away
(34:11):
, or I can't believe they tookthis away now, but what fuels
that?
Is it an influencer that you'rewatching?
Because you might say you'retaking control, but that
influencer is actuallycontrolling you, to have you go
down that way.
And I'm like, ooh, that'sreally interesting things to be
thinking a little bit deeperabout, to be a little bit more
mindful about.
So I think that's a good placeto end it.
(34:34):
Unless Olivia or Ashton, yousaid no, it's not, I got
something to say.
What are your guys'?
Olivia Yetman (34:38):
thoughts I don't have anything.
I'll probably get arrested ifwe keep going.
Brian Curee (34:44):
You're going to get blacked out yourself.
Huh, you don't plan on going to.
Ashton Curee (34:47):
China anytime soon .
Right, Because you should befine.
Brian Curee (34:57):
No, I think that.
Well, olivia, what would yousay to everybody listening when
it comes to comes to thissituation and things to be
thinking about in the future?
Olivia Yetman (35:04):
um, I think I would say that just with every
single you know social mediaplatform, ai, all of that.
To just blame or skeptical ofother countries is very not wise
.
Like again, because while wewould think that a human
(35:30):
couldn't do X, y and Z, historyhas shown us that there are
people that even if you get alittle taste of power, you can
switch on a dime.
So to just really again like,just keep your eyes open for
everything, don't just be honedin on one certain thing, because
(35:52):
that could be distracting youfrom the real thing.
That's going on elsewhere, ismy takeaway or advice yeah,
that's good insight, that's good.
Brian Curee (36:02):
that's really good to be thinking about.
So I want to encourageeverybody.
If you're listening to thepodcast and you you like what
you're hearing, you're moreinterested, like, well, what are
some things I should bethinking of?
Make sure you go visitkbdigitalcom.
We have loads of articles onthere.
Olivia is always writing newthings for the digital buzz and
things to be like.
She just wrote an article aboutpredictions for social media in
2025.
(36:23):
Go check that out.
We have a lot of information onthere that you guys can learn
from.
And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you click follow and
leave us a review.
That helps us help other peoplefind the podcast and we
appreciate you guys listeningand we would love to hear your
thoughts.
Make sure you click the text usa message in the show notes.
Thanks for tuning in If youenjoyed this episode hit
(36:43):
subscribe and leave us a review.
All right, well, welcome back to the Mindful
Bytes podcast.
Today we're actually going tostep back a little bit and we're
going to talk about it's kindof old news, but I think it's
still important for us to talkabout going forward.
But today we're going to talkabout the TikTok blackout.
Let's go ahead and introducethe crew.
(00:22):
So I'm Brian, the Gen Xbusiness leader, and I want to
go ahead and say ournon-technical Xenial Shana.
You know that dinosaur lady.
She's napping downstairs rightnow, so she won't be joining us
today.
Olivia Yetman (00:39):
And I'm Olivia, your social media obsessed,
millennial.
And I'm Ashton Curie, yoursocial media obsessed,
millennial.
Ashton Curee (00:45):
And I'm Ashton Kuri.
Your oh what am I?
Gen Z gadget fanatic.
That's what I am.
Brian Curee (00:58):
Say that three times fast.
Olivia Yetman (01:01):
Olivia, you've got to be excited about this
topic today because I knowyou're a huge fan of TikTok
right, I am.
It is my favorite platform outof all of them.
Brian Curee (01:08):
Well, okay.
So, knowing that, I want to askyou back on January 19th.
It's a date that I think hasbeen marked in history.
Olivia Yetman (01:17):
I'm already crying.
Brian Curee (01:20):
What was your initial reaction when it went
black?
Olivia Yetman (01:24):
What was your initial reaction when it went
black?
I wanted to take my phone andthrow it and shatter it.
Brian Curee (01:34):
Oh my gosh, I hope you, like, had an Android, not
an iPhone, right?
Olivia Yetman (01:38):
No, I have an iPhone, Okay.
So the funny thing is my nieceand nephew, who are teenagers,
they like snapchatted me rightaway and my niece was like,
let's go protest in the street.
This is how serious it got.
Brian Curee (02:01):
It got really serious fast.
How about you Like, how big ofa deal was it for you?
Ashton Curee (02:07):
it.
I'm not on tiktok, so it wasn'ta big deal.
You see, I have shorts, I haveyoutube shorts and I have
whatever reddit calls theirshort form.
That's all I need I'll checkthis out.
Brian Curee (02:19):
Hold on, guys, guys look, oh, I've got shorts too
oh gosh I sent him out for thattoo.
Yeah, you did you really did uh, okay, so you don't use tiktok.
Uh, uh, I don't use it.
You know, I know I used alittle bit, but then I got off
(02:40):
of it.
But I, I have to admit and Iwant to ask you your thoughts,
olivia, on this too, becausethis is your area I was
surprised by how people react.
Were you surprised?
I was too.
Olivia Yetman (02:55):
I was surprised in that it actually, like I said
, niece who you know doesn'treally care about anything was
ready to go into the street,like this is something that they
look at as like a cause to befought, and so I, yeah, was very
(03:21):
surprised by all of that, forsure, but I know Zuckerberg was
probably pretty thrilled.
Brian Curee (03:31):
Well, you know, I want to talk about that for a
second too, because I thinkthat's what really surprised me
as well, was how people werereacting.
Now, I had no doubt.
Ashton Curee (03:42):
Can I interject one little question before we?
Brian Curee (03:45):
get too far in.
Ashton Curee (03:46):
Yeah.
Why do you think people reactedthat way?
Was it because they thought itwas an injustice to the company?
Or do you think it was more aconvenience thing, because for
me I look at it as like I couldjust go watch a YouTube short.
I can just go to an Instagramreel.
Is it because their algorithmis so much better?
(04:07):
Or what do you think was thereason why people are so
passionate about it?
Olivia Yetman (04:13):
That's a really great question.
I personally and I'm very muchalso in Instagram and on
Facebook still, you know, useall the platforms.
Basically, I still TikTok is mynumber one, and it probably is
because of the algorithm and youknow the things that I'm seeing
(04:36):
, but also it just feels morereal to me, like honestly, um,
where I feel like even reels area little too polished, um, so
yeah, that's that's why I lovetiktok.
You learn so much on there doyou think that?
Brian Curee (04:57):
do you think you look at it differently because
of being a social mediaconsultant and coach?
Olivia Yetman (05:05):
I don't think I do, and the reason why is
because that's why I do thinkpeople were outraged, right,
because the same thing likeanyone could go on Instagram,
right, but it's not TikTok.
So there is something to that,the way that community is built
(05:28):
on the platform and, you know,like those types of things.
And also it was a huge thingfor creators, which we.
That's a whole different.
Brian Curee (05:39):
Yeah, we're going to get there, yeah, yeah, we're
going to get there for sure, getthere, yeah.
Yeah, we're gonna get there forsure.
Well, you know, I think thatwhen, when it all happened, what
really concerned me more thananything was because, you know,
we're in digital, we're indifferent platforms, uh, we're
gonna talk about some of thatleast stuff.
For sure, we're gonna get tothat, uh.
(05:59):
But one of the things is ittook me back to first off, back
to college, and I had acybersecurity class and I am no
cybersecurity expert, so let mego ahead and just put that out
there.
I mean, I just show you my, Ijust showed everybody my shorts
profile and not everybody'sprobably following me.
It's probably security risk.
(06:22):
But, with all joking aside, I,back in college and this was in
2008, I realized, wow, thecybersecurity threat was a lot
different, like to see and learnabout the attacks that was
happening and that's kind oflike the forefront of like
future wars and stuff, and youcan't.
It was hard for me to wrap mymind around it then.
But now, fast forward to 2025,I'm like, okay, cybersecurity is
(06:45):
definitely a real thing.
But I was shocked more thananything.
I wasn't as concerned as much,honestly, about the threats,
because I don't understand itand maybe one day we'll get
somebody on here to help usunderstand that.
But I was shocked more thananything about how a single app
can have that much of an impacton people, because I was seeing
(07:09):
videos on.
A lot of people went to X.
I was seeing videos on that.
There were things on Facebookand on Reels.
There was people breaking downand crying.
There was people that were veryangry because they felt like
their freedoms were being takenaway.
But what, what I don't know if.
If you know this, olivia, butyou know there's a lot of our
(07:31):
apps like.
I was even reading an articlethat about from cnn I believe
it's cnn business about howchina has blocked most of our
apps.
Already.
They've been blocked blockedbecause we don't want to follow
their data stuff, their datasecurity policies.
I think they blocked Google,youtube X, facebook, instagram,
(07:56):
whatsapp.
No.
Ashton Curee (07:58):
They have all their own versions.
Yeah, they have all their ownversions of it.
Brian Curee (08:02):
So there's a real threat there.
But what concerns me when Ithink of cybersecurity is that,
ashton, if you probably rememberthis, we visited Washington DC
and we went to a spy museum.
Do you remember that?
Ashton Curee (08:20):
I do remember this .
I remember this very vividly.
Brian Curee (08:22):
You do, and it was so interesting, olivia, I don't
know.
I mean, I don't know how muchyou know about like history
stuff I don't know a lot abouthistory stuff either, but it was
cool to go to the spy museum.
But the spies especially inGermany, propaganda was a huge
weapon that they used tomisinform the people of what was
really going on.
And I thought when I saw thisand the things happening like
(08:45):
the app and people saying likethey're taking your freedoms
away, and to know that Chinadoesn't allow our apps there but
they're kind of pushing theagenda of our freedoms are being
taken away here I'm like that'skind of dangerous.
That's a concern I had.
I was like, yeesh, that's likeI could see that propaganda
coming either way.
So I don't know the answers.
(09:07):
I know this is not a politicalpodcast at all and thank God for
that, but it's just like thecybersecurity is real on so many
different levels.
So what are your thoughts aboutthose type of things?
Olivia?
Have you thought about that?
Ashton, have you thought aboutthat?
Olivia Yetman (09:25):
Those type of things.
Olivia, have you thought aboutthat?
Ashton, have you thought aboutthat?
Yeah, well, I like those aregreat points that you brought up
(10:11):
, which is funny because peoplethink like country right, so
they control all their media,because they only put to just at
the snap of a finger whichwe'll probably get into what
actually really happened.
But I don't believe thatFacebook or X or anyone else is
any more safe than TikTok, andthere's a reason why Meta has
(10:34):
different restrictions in Europethan they do here in the US.
So I think that TikTok has kindof turned into the target
because no company has been ableto emulate their app as well.
Brian Curee (10:47):
So, yeah, so I think that.
So one of the things that Iwant to point out that what
you're talking about here too,olivia, is something I learned
back in my college days in thecybersecurity class that I had
was to learn that the, the keyhere, is that when your data,
(11:10):
like, for instance, the datahere that they're collecting,
who knows what they're doingwith that?
But they have to abide by theUS laws.
A foreign country does not haveto, which that's where the,
from my understanding, that'swhere the security risk comes in
, because they can do whateverthey want to with it because
they're outside of our country.
(11:30):
It was kind of concerning to meback then.
I think it was like I said itwas 2008.
Ashton Curee (11:35):
It was with.
Brian Curee (11:35):
Google back then, yeah, back then Google like they
moved.
When all this was being learned, I found out that Google had
set up servers that were inanother country.
I'm like that's kind of scary,but I was just reading the
article that, because of Chinarefusing to do these things with
Google, google didn't like theway that they wouldn't say, hey,
(11:56):
we're going to handle the datathis way.
They actually moved all theirservers back.
I read I was like, ohinteresting.
So there are like I guessthat's where I'm trying to help
educate myself as well on thatLike what, what are these?
What are the concerns?
I don't know what those are,but I also thought, like if, if
(12:18):
the government because I meanthe whole idea of like well,
this was taken away, I get that,but I also wonder how would
people feel if they they foundout that we knew that there was
a security risk and there couldbe high risk and they decided
not to take it away, and theneverybody found out.
(12:39):
Would it be?
Ashton Curee (12:40):
that's yeah.
So that's what's interesting isthat's like the difference in
America and China is Chinaprotects itself by blocking that
stuff, and you know they'reprotecting their own goals.
But here we were built onfreedom and so because of that,
(13:01):
I think a better action would betrying to inform of the
American people of what threatsthere are, versus just trying to
outright block it because itdoes walk that line of okay, if
you're allowed to block this appbecause it's a security threat,
uh, what else can be a securitythreat?
(13:22):
You know, yeah.
So yeah, where is that line ofdo you just inform your people?
Do you?
You know?
Do you go so far as to block it?
And then that's a slipperyslope.
Where do you stop blockingthings?
If it's a security risk to thegovernment but not to us, then
at what point do they become toocontrolling into what China is?
Brian Curee (13:52):
Yeah, does anybody know any facts that they've read
about why they blocked it?
I remember at first what theymade it where government
employees couldn't use it, whichI'm like okay, that makes sense
.
And I can see what you'resaying here too, Ashton, about
informing people.
But where is the line Like, hey, we're going to take it down,
we're going to block it?
I mean they did give themwarnings and we could still see
it go away again.
Though I did just read and I'msure, olivia, you probably
(14:16):
already know this, since you'rea TikToker and you're just not
TikTok just won't stop right.
Ashton Curee (14:22):
Who said that?
Brian Curee (14:22):
condescending.
You're a TikToker, you're aTikToker, you're a TikToker.
I have nothing againstTikTokers unless you're taking
data, but I don't have any dataon there now, except for mine.
No, I was reading that I guessOracle, like US, the White House
, is talking to Oracle and USinvestors about taking over
(14:45):
TikTok.
That's an article that I'mreading on NPR, which I'm like
okay, so like they're working onsomething, and, of course, it
was definitely interesting.
It was like right before Trumpwas taking office, it went down
and all of a sudden, within 24hours, boom, it's back up and
it's thanks Trump, you know.
Olivia Yetman (15:00):
So I'm like there's a lot more going on here
than probably realized butthat's the political stuff
probably, yeah, and I mean, yeah, you brought that up.
So tiktok took themselves down.
Like the government actuallydid not do that, they went black
themselves so that they couldpump back up and put that
(15:21):
message up to the new presidentof the united states wow so and
that is basically brown nosing,if you will um, so wait a minute
, let me clarify.
Brian Curee (15:38):
You're saying that the government did not take
tiktok down I mean theythreatened to do it.
Olivia Yetman (15:44):
But but, but TikTok turned themselves off.
Tiktok did their own blackout.
Brian Curee (15:49):
Yeah.
Ashton Curee (15:50):
Interesting.
I haven't heard anything aboutthat, so won't you think that's?
Olivia Yetman (15:54):
concerning.
I think it's very concerning.
So the other thing I find veryconcerning is them wanting a U S
company to own it but thenletting someone like Mark
Zuckerberg buy it, because thatis a monopoly, which is not
(16:17):
again a good thing for anything,cause then he, this one person
controls, all of you know, oursocial media platforms, and
that's a slippery slope as well.
I mean, elon owns x, but I meanwho's even on that anyway?
But like if they would allowthat, that is very, very, very
(16:41):
so let me read this.
Brian Curee (16:42):
So this way you know too.
So I don't think that's thecase.
I think what's going on isthey're forcing them, like they
have to find someone else tohandle the data, like some of
that, like the control of it.
So what this article says righthere is says the Trump
administration is working on aplan to save TikTok that
involves tapping softwarecompany Oracle and a group of
(17:04):
outside investors to effectivelytake control of the app's
global operations.
According to two people directknowledge of the talks, under
the deal now being negotiated bythe White House, tiktok's
China-based owner, bytedance,would retain a minority stake in
the company, but the app'salgorithm, data collection and
software updates will beoverseen by Oracle, which
(17:25):
already provides the foundationof tiktok's web infrastructure.
So that's a good sign there, Iguess.
Because like, yeah, I wouldagree.
Like if, if they open up doorswhere somebody like mark
zuckerberg or somebody thatcould purchase it, that's not
really helping.
Like that's yeah, you're,you're creating a monopoly and
(17:46):
there's already things there.
If I'm gonna have to haveanother episode, probably soon,
about zuckerberg and uh and metaand stuff, because the thing is
like, if, if they did do that,we know that the thing about
meta is we use all the platforms.
We, you know it's a love haterelationship for a lot of people
, uh, because that's wherethey've always been, but meta
(18:07):
hasn't, I think, even thoughthey've done a good job trying
to.
You remember the times wherezuckerberg was looked at like
some evil, like demon.
You know all his eyes are blackand you know I think we've seen
like a little like you've seenmore than two, yeah, all, more
than two, yeah, all of them andlike like a little like, uh,
like I had like little dinosaurarms.
You remember that one, olivia,right, the picture was like yeah
(18:28):
, but but think about it, I wasjust.
I can't remember who it was.
I was watching.
It was a marketing guy and hewas pointing out how they've
done such a good job ofhumanizing zuckerberg.
They he was not looked at as ahuman being, he's from another
planet and all like over thelast two years you've seen
(18:48):
pictures and videos of himsurfing with his wife.
They've done a really good jobhumanizing him.
But people still have a trustissue with Meta.
So if Meta bought out TikTok,it would be the end of it,
because I think just the namepeople are going to be like no,
it's going to have a bad tastein their mouth and just like
you're saying you would not be.
(19:09):
Would you stay on TikTok if?
No, I didn't think so.
Olivia Yetman (19:12):
I mean I'm still on, you know, I still use his
platforms, but you know like,yeah, that would not be okay
with me at all so?
Ashton Curee (19:25):
so I know you just said that they took their own
app down.
Did they take it off the appstores too?
Because you know, I don't knowif it's available now, but you
know, for a while you couldn'tdownload it off the app store
after the takedown happened.
Was that apple and googlebacking off because they were
scared, or did?
Do you know if they ordered?
Olivia Yetman (19:46):
I don't know.
All I've seen was that theywere responsible for the
blackout and very strategicallycame back up, for you know the
message.
But also what people didn'trealize, which I was even more
upset about, was CapCut is aTikTok product and I use CapCut
(20:09):
every single day for work, so Iwas very upset about that.
Brian Curee (20:15):
And that took longer to come back.
That was big.
That was big.
I was like what?
Capcut's gone.
I did not expect that either.
Now, I could still use it, butI couldn't use any templates,
anything like that.
I could still edit it, but Icouldn't use any templates,
anything like that.
I could still edit videos onhere, but I couldn't use any of
the other extra features on it,like templates, music, the
internet accessible stuff.
Yeah, anything internetaccessible.
(20:35):
It was gone.
To kind of answer your questionabout the App Store action,
from my experience with workingwith apps, the app developer has
an option to turn that off, sothat's probably where they cut
it.
They probably said, hey, don'tturn off the app in these
countries I'm guessing that'swhat they did and then for it to
(20:55):
come back.
It does take time for Apple tosay, just like when you upload a
new page to a website, googlehas they'll decide when they're
going to recrawl it and index it.
So that's the same thing withthe App Store.
You have to wait.
Sometimes it might be 24 hoursor 48 hours.
Uploading a podcast, if Iupdate a podcast it's going to
(21:16):
take so many hours before itgoes across the whole board of
all different platforms.
Ashton Curee (21:21):
It actually isn't up yet.
As of what day is it?
February 6th?
It's not back on the Google AppStore really interesting yeah,
it actually says right heredownloads for this app are
paused due to current us legalrequirements.
Oh, man, we better check it seeif it's on the look at what's
(21:42):
at the top, only the next mostpopular replacement for tiktok
oh yeah let's talk about thathow it's not doing exactly what
people.
Brian Curee (21:55):
Olivia, I did a search for TikTok in the Apple
store and I don't see it.
Ashton Curee (22:00):
Yeah, I thought it had been taken down.
I guess we'll have to do someresearch on it.
Olivia Yetman (22:06):
Oh, that's interesting.
Ashton Curee (22:08):
Is this breaking news.
Olivia Yetman (22:11):
When I search TikTok on my app store, the
first thing that comes up isInstagram.
Brian Curee (22:21):
Do you even see TikTok?
I don't even see TikTok rightnow.
Olivia Yetman (22:23):
No, you can only download the TikTok saver to
save your old TikTok.
Ashton Curee (22:29):
So that's what I was talking about.
I know, right during theinitial like the initial
blackout, they all came off theapp stores and I thought I had
seen something that said thatapple and google because they're
the biggest um app storeholders they basically took it
(22:50):
down on their own behalf and Ididn't know in what level that
happened.
If Apple and Google did it, ifTikTok did it, if the government
ordered it, like, who'sresponsible for that?
Olivia Yetman (23:02):
Oh, that's very interesting.
Ashton Curee (23:05):
I don't imagine.
I mean Google could say it'sbecause of legal requirements
and it's not actually, but Ikind of find it unlikely.
Brian Curee (23:12):
Well, I mean, if there is a security risk and
data transfer, those platformsdon't want to be held
responsible in any way.
Like it's on their platform,right?
This is like where we get tolike, almost like, even though,
like they don't own Apple store,they don't own the Google play
store.
You know, tiktok doesn't own it.
It is a least on their sidewhen it comes to a lease
(23:34):
property.
It's kind of like a website.
Like I can host my website on aserver, but that owner of that
server can decide your websiteis not allowed on here and they
can kick me off and I have to gofind another server.
The only thing here is tiktokhas to find.
Like they only have google playor apple.
So they must have been the onesthat said nope, you're not
(23:54):
coming back on until whateverthis security threat is handled.
Ashton Curee (23:59):
So the only thing I will say is, on that front,
normally the distributor cannotreally get in trouble Like, for
example, google.
If they put TikTok up normallyfrom, from my understanding at
least, they would not be able toget in trouble with that.
There's actually a bigsituation right now in the 3D
(24:19):
printing community where thesewebsites are scared right now of
putting up a certain filebecause of a big drama that
happened, and they can only getin trouble if they actually are
warned, and no warnings everwent out.
So I don't know if the sameruling applies, but it looks
(24:40):
like it's more to protect thedistributor across most
industries, unless they've been,like, warned specifically.
I guess I could look it up, Iguess, yeah, that would be
public.
Brian Curee (24:53):
I guess my thing that I would say is this as a
business owner, knowing theremight be a risk, and how many
people could come back and tryto fight you for it, for
allowing it back on yourplatform, I don't know.
I think I'd hold off.
So I mean taking it from thatpoint of view, but I don't know.
I mean, Olivia, what were yougoing to say?
Olivia Yetman (25:16):
Oh, I was going to say don't know.
I mean, olivia, what were yougonna say?
Oh, I was gonna say, uh, whatdo you think happened after the
tiktok platform went down aswell?
What?
What platform do you thinksurge?
Brian Curee (25:27):
uh, I would say x, but I know that there was okay,
so I know there was a chinabased, which I'm like.
This doesn't make any sense.
What was it?
Olivia Yetman (25:35):
called red red red no and lemon eight and
they're both chinese based.
Yeah, and it was all.
Brian Curee (25:42):
So just to prove a point though, because, like the
red one, it was all in chinese.
You couldn't even yeah it was.
Olivia Yetman (25:49):
It is to prove a point, for sure, but one in
eight, I think, is actuallypretty valid and like a fun type
of thing.
But yeah, um, uh, yeah, so thatthat was just.
Brian Curee (26:04):
I mean it was funny , but I was like, well, you know
, you just went ahead anddownloaded an app that well, I
guess if you get hacked, I meanit's on you.
I'm like I'm not downloadingany app that's in a language I
cannot even understand.
Forget that.
I have a hard enough timeunderstanding English.
I'm not going to put somethingon.
Definitely.
I'm like is that an icon or isthat a letter?
(26:25):
I don't know, I can't figure itout, so I would click something
.
That would be really bad.
Olivia Yetman (26:29):
Well, it's a bunch of things that we're doing
Exactly yeah.
Brian Curee (26:33):
I thought that was hilarious.
I'm like what is this Like?
Should we check it out?
And then I found out it's in awhole different language.
I'm like no, not checking itout.
So what'd you find out, Ashton?
Ashton Curee (26:43):
It looks like there might have been a warning.
I can't verify it right now,but it looks like that.
They're in the public records,in Judy records.
It looks like that there was awarning, but I'm Are you looking
up, like the judge, judyrecords?
Brian Curee (27:01):
Is that what you're looking?
Ashton Curee (27:01):
up.
No, there's a website calledJudy records where you can look
up United States court cases andall this public information.
This is like this, gen Z stuff.
Brian Curee (27:11):
That's why he's like he knows all these
different things to look at.
It's crazy.
But well, I mean, I think thatyou know, I guess my big concern
is well, that's something thatI want to be empathetic to,
because I know there's a lot ofpeople that do rely on TikTok
for their business and,unfortunately, some of them are
relying on their the totalsuccess of their business and,
(27:33):
as we've talked about Oliviawith clients and Ashton, that we
have to be very careful ofbuilding on a lease property,
because there is a very highrisk on any lease property, not
just TikTok on Facebook, onInstagram, it doesn't matter if
it's US, if it's in China,whatever it is.
(27:53):
There are risks matter if it'sus, if it's, if it's in china,
whatever it is, there are risksand you have to be planning on a
way to like, if you're going touse them, have a way to to move
them to a property that you own, because if something happens
just like this, like thisblackout, and you lose
everything what was the app vinethat we've talked about several
times over and over?
Yeah, like, you lose all thoseconnections if you're not
(28:15):
planning for this.
It's a lease property.
Ashton Curee (28:17):
You have to think beyond the lease property you
got to move them to a propertyyou own.
You got to move them tosomething where you can keep
connection with them?
No, definitely.
So what property are?
Brian Curee (28:29):
you going to move everybody to olivia, so what?
Olivia Yetman (28:33):
property?
Are you going to move everybodyto Olivia?
Email is always going to beyour tried and true thing to do.
Right Email for sure.
Brian Curee (28:45):
Yeah, get them your email.
Ashton Curee (28:51):
Why?
Brian Curee (28:52):
don't we just start hosting forums?
Ashton Curee (28:53):
We need to buy a domain and make a forum.
Buy a domain and make a forum.
Olivia Yetman (28:55):
Yeah, that's like really going back, do you
remember?
Do you consider texting owned?
Brian Curee (28:59):
property.
Well, to be honest with you.
So now we're getting aninteresting conversation here
because even I don't considernow this is me personally, I
don't consider email or textmessaging owned property.
Well, where are you supposed tosend them?
Because, like, that's reallykind of like.
Here's the thing.
It's like they are, I guess,kind of like you own the list,
(29:22):
but those people can unsubscribeto your texts, to your emails.
So those are more likepermission-based, like you're
asking them, hey, give me thisinformation, they're giving it
to you.
That's like so valuable, butyou can download that and save
it somewhere.
So you, you know you, so youkind of own it, it's like an
in-between.
Olivia Yetman (29:42):
I guess like that's where you just want to
handcuff everybody.
Brian Curee (29:44):
Handcuff everybody to my desk and a pole and just
be like you're not going when Ithink about like own properties,
I'm talking about like thoseare probably the biggest things.
When you think of owned is likeyour website.
You own that.
So, like, if you're creatingcontent, be putting that content
on your own website that can bemoved and put anywhere.
Your own app Though you have toput it on at least servers.
(30:06):
You can own your own server.
So there are mixtures, butemails and all that are, yes,
important to get.
Ashton Curee (30:13):
That's what you want to get I think what more
qualifies it as a owned propertyis if you have the efforts,
like you own your website.
If your server, you know, getsblown up, you still have the
data.
Well, you should, you shouldfollow the rule of thumb uh to
local one cloud, but you havethat data elsewhere, so that you
(30:35):
can move your data to anotherserver.
Wait a minute two local, onecloud.
What does that mean?
The rule of thumb is, when youare doing anything that is data
sensitive or really honestlyanything, you have two local
saves of said project and acloud save.
So usually one stays on you ona thumb drive, one stays on your
(30:57):
laptop or computer you'reworking on, one stays in the
cloud.
So if your house burns down,well, you have a hard drive in
your pocket and you have one inthe cloud.
Oh, if all the internet goesdown or Google goes down and all
that was in drive, you have twolocals.
You always have something there.
Brian Curee (31:17):
That's the rule of thumb, gotcha that makes sense
and I think that you know,olivia, with what we're talking
about, with owned andpermission-based, I think what I
think you're right like that ismore owned, like you own that
list, uh, it's just there's.
I guess there's.
I look at it aspermission-based, as different
ways you approach these, thesetechnologies to own versus
(31:37):
permission.
But, yeah, you want to gettheir contact information, you
want to store that somewhere,like you're saying.
Ashton, that's a great point,the one you know.
Whatever you said, one local.
Olivia Yetman (31:46):
Two locals, one cloud.
Brian Curee (31:48):
Two locals one cloud, so I should get this pair
of shorts I really liked Ishould get two more pairs so I
can keep one in the cloud, likeon my patio, hanging, and then
two more in my closet.
Is that what you're saying?
Ashton Curee (32:03):
No, the two local one cloud would be you wearing
one pair of shorts, you keepingone in the closet and then you
send one to an Amazon warehousefor them to keep.
That would be your two localone cloud.
That's a good.
I like that.
I like that.
I need to buy my own Amazonwarehouse.
Brian Curee (32:21):
Well, I think that, olivia, I thought it was good
to talk about this because Ithink there are some things that
we don't really know what'sgoing on, but being aware of the
things that we do have controlover and planning for if this
happens again, Will we see moreof this in 2025?
There's a lot of stuff that'schanging with privacy and data
and all these different digitalapplications.
(32:43):
So I think, yes, you can takethe path of.
I guess let me rephrase this wecan take the path of, actually,
ashton, you can edit that out.
So here's my thoughts.
How we react may or may nothelp the situation at all.
(33:08):
So what we really have to befocused on is choosing.
How are we preparing ourselvesfor those unknown, knowing that,
again, these are leaseproperties?
What is our plan?
You cannot rely solely on thatand just you know.
I think that one of the thingsthat I wrote in my notes I heard
(33:29):
a person say this, and I don'tremember who it is.
I'm terrible at writing downnames.
I did not write down this name,but one of the things I heard
was people were going on and onabout how it's a control thing
Now, and people said I'm notgoing to be controlled, which I
get, it.
I'm like one of those peopletoo.
I don't want to be controlled.
But this person said somethingand I was like, ooh, that's kind
(33:51):
of interesting If you reallythink about this.
And it goes back to the spymuseum, ashton.
This person said, if you reallythink about it, everybody is
being controlled by somebody.
And he's like, if you thinkabout the propaganda, if you're,
you might be like oh, I can'tbelieve they took tech talk away
(34:11):
, or I can't believe they tookthis away now, but what fuels
that?
Is it an influencer that you'rewatching?
Because you might say you'retaking control, but that
influencer is actuallycontrolling you, to have you go
down that way.
And I'm like, ooh, that'sreally interesting things to be
thinking a little bit deeperabout, to be a little bit more
mindful about.
So I think that's a good placeto end it.
(34:34):
Unless Olivia or Ashton, yousaid no, it's not, I got
something to say.
What are your guys'?
Olivia Yetman (34:38):
thoughts I don't have anything.
I'll probably get arrested ifwe keep going.
Brian Curee (34:44):
You're going to get blacked out yourself.
Huh, you don't plan on going to.
Ashton Curee (34:47):
China anytime soon .
Right, Because you should befine.
Brian Curee (34:57):
No, I think that.
Well, olivia, what would yousay to everybody listening when
it comes to comes to thissituation and things to be
thinking about in the future?
Olivia Yetman (35:04):
um, I think I would say that just with every
single you know social mediaplatform, ai, all of that.
To just blame or skeptical ofother countries is very not wise
.
Like again, because while wewould think that a human
(35:30):
couldn't do X, y and Z, historyhas shown us that there are
people that even if you get alittle taste of power, you can
switch on a dime.
So to just really again like,just keep your eyes open for
everything, don't just be honedin on one certain thing, because
(35:52):
that could be distracting youfrom the real thing.
That's going on elsewhere, ismy takeaway or advice yeah,
that's good insight, that's good.
Brian Curee (36:02):
that's really good to be thinking about.
So I want to encourageeverybody.
If you're listening to thepodcast and you you like what
you're hearing, you're moreinterested, like, well, what are
some things I should bethinking of?
Make sure you go visitkbdigitalcom.
We have loads of articles onthere.
Olivia is always writing newthings for the digital buzz and
things to be like.
She just wrote an article aboutpredictions for social media in
2025.
(36:23):
Go check that out.
We have a lot of information onthere that you guys can learn
from.
And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you click follow and
leave us a review.
That helps us help other peoplefind the podcast and we
appreciate you guys listeningand we would love to hear your
thoughts.
Make sure you click the text usa message in the show notes.
Thanks for tuning in If youenjoyed this episode hit
(36:43):
subscribe and leave us a review.
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