About

Soupytime's "Fascist Countries Ban Websites" TikTok refers to a viral video posted by TikToker @soupytime in mid-January 2025 in which she characterizes the United States government's push to ban TikTok as emblematic of it's "fascist" tendencies. The video was reposted to Twitter / X with the caption "Gen Z is not happy," soon after it gathered traction on TikTok, with "Soupy" gathering both support and criticism for her views as it spread to multiple social media platforms in the following days.

Origin

On January 13th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @soupytime posted a video commenting on the U.S. government's decision to consider a TikTok ban on the grounds of the app being a national security risk. The video begins with the TikToker saying, "Fascist countries ban apps," gathering over 11 million views and 2.7 million likes in two days.

A transcript of Soupy's video is shown below:

Fascist countries ban apps. Fascist countries ban websites. Fascist countries ban apps and websites under the guise of threats to National Security when every other country knows it's about suppressing the free speech of its citizens.
If the government believes that a single app could, [to] quote from the hearing on the 10th, "Skew the perspective of American citizens to be anti-American," [then] maybe the real problem is that American citizens are already in such a state of political unrest and unhappiness that our government is scared [that] a single foreign influence could tip the scale and have it all be over. Don't you think that by taking away the, and I quote, "Key communications channel of Americans," it's going to make those 170 million Americans a little more anti-American?

Maybe Congress knows and understands that. Maybe the government knows that the backlash it will receive from banning TikTok does not outweigh the threats that come with its existence. Not in a matter of National Security, but in a matter of being the most popular news and media outlet that the government cannot control like American-owned broadcasting networks and publications. Maybe if this was actually a national security concern, the government would be banning all Chinese-developed apps like Shien and Temu that collect the exact same amount of data as TikTok.

Because maybe it knows TikTok is something special. You can't politically organize on Temu if TikTok goes dark. The government deliberately and knowingly took away your free speech. Do not accept National Security for an answer, ever.

On January 13th, the video was reposted to the subreddit /r/TikTokCringe^[7] with the caption, "The media oligarchy stands strong," gathering over 7,000 upvotes in two days.

The video was reposted to Twitter / X^[2] on January 13th by @OrganizerMemes with the caption, "This video by popular TikTok personality Soupy is going viral with 1.2 million likes and 3.9 million views in 15 hours. Gen z is not happy." The post gathered over 20 million views and 130,000 likes in two days.

Spread

Soupytime's TikTok gathered both support and criticism from audiences on X, with @katewillett^[3] reacting positively on January 13th, 2025, writing, "Gen Z absolutely knows the Tik tok ban is about censorship and information control," gathering over 23,000 likes in two days.

However, the video also gathered significant backlash from internet users who don't view TikTok as an appropriate avenue to mobilize politically, or as a platform conducive to free speech.

On January 13th, 2025, Twitter / X^[4] user @TierZoo posted a tweet that read, "arguing that a tiktok ban is contrary to free speech is hilarious given that this is the same app that taught gen z to be too afraid to say the word 'killed' or 'died.'" The post gathered over 38,000 likes in two days.

Also on January 13th, Twitter / X^[5] user @lay_man__ posted a variant of the Leave the Multimillion Dollar Company Alone meme that read, "Leave the multibillion dollar company alone," gathering over 28,000 likes in two days.

Also on January 13th, Twitter / X^[6] user @extramicrowave tweeted, "this is killing me man Gen Z really got oneshotted by the algorithm," gathering over 36,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

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External References