It’s been a while since Meta changed their social media community guidelines: removing restrictions on hate speech, homophobia, racism, among others; and since Mark Zuckerberg emphasized on “masculinity” in workplace, thereby dismissing and dismantling genders and their equality.
Recently, in the US, TikTok was banned, then unbanned all within a matter of 12 hours – creating the record for the shortest ban in history yet chaos had ensued in just that period as influencers had said their goodbyes, revealed some baffling truths before departing, only for the app to be ‘risen from the dead’ by Trump.
Ironic, as it was Trump who wanted to ban it in the first place back in 2020 if his government would form but that didn’t happen. But after becoming the saviour of TikTok, he stated he did this because he had a “soft corner” for the youth.
Unsurprisingly, this extension brought about by the US President has some terms & conditions such as the ownership of ByteDance (which powers Tiktok) of China be given to America instead, because of policies and security of data (reason due to which TikTok has been banned in many other countries as well)
“Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S!”
– The message said (even though “President” Trump hadn’t even been sworn in as the “President” in the US at that point)
Censorship has also emerged as a pressing issue: how much of the social media and press will be encouraged to show the more powerful, majority, ruling party’s side and censor the rest because of the shift in ownership in the big hands; and the overall extremist incline in the world.
Millions of American users had flocked to Xiaohongshou or RedNote, another China app similar to TikTok, when the threat of the ban was looming. They called themselves “TikTok refugees” and interacted with their Chinese peers on the app who welcomed them with open arms, many even trying to learn Mandarin to interact better and navigate through RedNote better as most of it was written on it. It was a wholesome display of multicultural unity, proving politics can only push back so much when it comes to genuine human heart to heart connections.
But the American authorities must have seen this fresh take and “RedNote revolt” which had made their ban backfire, because in the blink of an eye (quite literally) TikTok was restored, “Trump card” pulled off, the hearts of youth won, so it all came back to square one.
Wow. Praise to President Donald Trump, right?
Amidst these uncertainties and risky times for diversity, equity, and inclusivity such as that of women, poc, queer community, and the arts, cultures, freedom of expressions, it can be scary indeed so where does one go? But as they say “After the plague, came the Renaissance”, there is a new hope on the horizon!
Named after the planet of creativity, intuition, inspiration and compassion, TheNeptuneApp is headed by femmes and created for creators! It redefines the social platform with exciting, never seen before features in a social media app, all while promoting and integrating inclusivity, kindness and passion of the user!
I had the blessed opportunity to interact with Ashley Darling (she/they), Neptune’s CEO, who took out her precious time from their busy schedule to have a meeting with me. It was phenomenal to see a confident, queer woman as the CEO of this platform along with their amazing team, I was awestruck as I was when I watched the Barbie and realized how much representation, of girl power, and other minorities matter especially in today’s world, backed by the responsibility of social media which is also sensitive to its content.
Main Features: Customizable Algorithm & Ghost Metrics
The most unique feature of Neptune is its customizable algorithm. You can choose what you wish to consume, different tags for different niches with a separate filter for AI content! No more doom scrolling! (unless you wish to, of course – for which, there’s the automatic algorithm you can toggle, which works the same as for the fyp of insta, tiktok etc). There are ghost metrics too which means the followers and likes of a creator won’t be visible unless they want to make it, and even then it won’t be placed and visible at the top of their profile as this creates a psychological bias on the viewer that if a person is popular then their content would be great too. “This feature ensures quality over first impression biases” the CEO explained
Monetization for Creators
NO ads! Even then, because it’s an app for creators, there are multiple options for monetization including live streams, creators can reserve some content on their page for ‘subscribers only’, if followers really like a creator and want to support them then they can voluntarily opt in to watch ads on their specific page :)
Mandatory Age Verification
The app is especially mindful of its audience hence the focus is not censorship but it would take action against hate speech, users can join but in order to post and engage with 18+ content they must verify their age with ID through Yoti, a third party organization that checks and then sends a green light to Neptune, confirming the user’s registration
Multicultural Friendly
Most platforms owned by white capitalists targeting minorities nowadays, the Neptune team makes it a point to be multicultural diversity friendly, uplifting them to create, share their stories, a voice for representation, art and life on the platform. As it grows and gears up for a global release, so will the audience and their stories and creative journeys, ensuring safe spaces to thrive for everyone!
Release
With over thousands of users already signed up to reserve their username handles through its Discord server, Neptune started its beta testing on 1st February, with the iOS launch in spring and Android in summer this year
Can’t wait for the spaceship of creativity to launch, orbit and finally land on Neptune!
For more interesting reads, check out HerCampus at MUJ!