I'm just waiting for someone to make an open-source TikTok analog that can just replace the functionality with a platform not controlled by a single party .. we still have that dream right, cryptonerds?
Seems like the best solution to the problem.
Seems like the best solution to the problem.
The only open source case I can think of that has some success is Mastodon and that is because it's creators let people launch their own mini communities but that is a different social model all together, probably closer to self hosted forums with a different UX/UI. TikTok's success comes from the centralized discoverability and its algorithms. Mastodon on the other hand is a fenced garden. Almost anyone can walk through the garden gate but AFAIK there is not a centralized search function for full discoverability.
And don't tell me you can do it with p2p - the entire point of tiktok is that you can load new videos by swiping your finger. If every video takes 10 seconds to begin buffering nobody will want to use your app.
This app can be built, quite easily, by anyone motivated to do so. Just like the kernel, just like a distribution vendor, just like any one of the thousands of highly successful open source, community-oriented projects out there.