American TikTokers are sharing their stories in light of the potential banning of the app in the United States on Jan. 19, 2025. Krystina (@blissfullykrys) posted her story on Jan. 14, 2025, explaining how the app expanded her mind and transformed her from a conservative Republican into “the most far-left person” in her circle.
She explains that this sort of awareness is exactly what the government is trying to tamp down. “I am the government’s biggest fear,” she said, reflecting on how TikTok radicalized and transformed her.
‘I used to be a brainwashed conservative Republican’
“So I was a conservative Republican when I joined TikTok,” she began. “This was back in 2021. 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.”
“Which was a really easy one for me to travel, since I was already on the right because I was raised in Arizona. I was conservative, right? And so that was a really easy pipeline for me to travel, and then I eventually got on TikTok and started learning and started listening and started LEARNING and started LISTENING.”
“And it’s just crazy, because I just kept going more, oh—” she said, moving her fingers from the right to the left. “—And you jump over the Democrats, because,” she grimaced. “And you just keep moving left and you just keep moving left.”
Krystina described how her radical shift in mindset is exactly the type of thing the government is afraid of—not because of party lines, but because questioning institutional and political systems and processes is anathema to systems of power.
“I am what the American government is afraid of. I used to be a brainwashed conservative Republican with no emotional intelligence, no empathy, didn’t care about anybody, didn’t know about any of the issues very deeply, didn’t wanna listen to anybody about anything. Nothing. None of that.”
A large part of this process included hearing and seeing various perspectives, which is how Krystina says she learned emotional intelligence and empathy.
“And then I got on this app and I sat and I listened…and I let people connect dots for me…and then I started connecting my own dots and I started questioning things…and I started getting emotionally intelligent… and then I started really asking questions.
And then I really started feeling passionate about it, because now I’m emotionally intelligent. Now I really f*cking care about people. And now I’m a leftist. Like, the most far-left person in my personal circle.”
“If they’re afraid of people on this app learning information and becoming anti-America, they should be afraid of that, because that’s exactly what happens. Or at least, that’s my story.
My TikTok testimonial, if you will. At the end of the day, if the truth and learning, and learning about things and gaining perspectives and whatnot is a threat to a system, then that system is a house of cards.”
“And that’s what we’re witnessing. We’re witnessing their house of cards tumbling, and they’re grasping at whatever they can to keep their house of cards from tumbling. But the damage is already done. We already saw too much. We already know too much. And we also know that there are more of us.”
“That there are a lot of us who feel this way, who have this same story. I’m sure that my story is not unique. I’m sure there are a lot of people who got on this app originally as Republicans and they are no longer anything close to Republicans.”
‘That’s what this app does. It’s community’
Krystina explained that the seeds of knowledge and questioning our government may grow underground, but will eventually sprout and lead to outward change in American society.
“I have no doubt that it’ll happen. But we gotta be patient and we gotta keep working and don’t be discouraged. 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, you can get right back into it.
Connection is so important. We cannot let them disconnect us, right? Connection is the single most important thing on Earth. Community, connection, each other, is the single most important thing. And they know that, right?
That’s what this app does. It’s community. It connects people. You can niche down because you can exactly find your people. Right? That’s so powerful. And that’s why they’re afraid. There’s nothing like this out there, right?” she said. “I love you. We’ve got this. Keep going.”
In the caption, she added, “Things may look bleak on the outside; but below the surface, unrest is bubbling, consciousness is expanding, passions are burning, and people are uniting. They are panicking because they see it too. Keep your foot on their throat and show no mercy 👏🏼”
In a response to the Daily Dot, Krystina wrote:
“My experience with TikTok is that it became somewhat like a personally tailored classroom, as I have learned something new every single day since joining this app. From finding new recipes to try and learning how to cook on stainless [steel] pans to world events and politics, this app has become a great source of knowledge and learning for myself and millions of others.
The algorithm on TikTok is unique in its ability to bring you content from people all over the world and from so many different walks of life, where other platforms exist more as an echo chamber of regurgitated talking points.
For years I was on other platforms struggling to reach new people, to learn anything new, or to find new perspectives to take in- but on TikTok the algorithm does all of those things effortlessly.
I never sought out to change my political affiliation when joining TikTok, I even held off downloading it at the beginning because of the fear-mongering around foreign tech.
But because of how many new perspectives I was exposed to on TikTok (especially compared to the echo chambers of other apps) and how these new perspectives have helped me learn and grow, I can confidently say that joining TikTok was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I’ve become much more of a global citizen because of TikTok’s ability to curate content from people all over the world, those involved in politics, and those who are experts in these fields who can make information more digestible and accessible to the average person.”
Ultimately, TikTok helped Krystina become a better critical thinker, “which slowly over time led me to switch political affiliations.”
“People often ask if there was a specific video that made it all click for me, but truly it just happened naturally over time, and with the more information and different perspectives I was exposed to the more I naturally moved more and more to the left,” she wrote.
Being willing to listen and being open to new perspectives that challenged my old worldview was key to my political shift.
TikTok is an invaluable tool for the Information Age, not only because it allows people to learn about things they may never have gotten the opportunity to learn before, but it also allows for communities to arise where community was lacking before.”
Commenters under Krystina’s TikTok post and on X, formerly Twitter, responded to her statements, sharing their perspectives and agreeing with the crux of her argument, which is how powerful of a tool TikTok is for expanding awareness and community.
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