The real lesson from TikTok's latest ban

A TikTok ban is bigger than one creator. It’s a reminder that every independent voice is vulnerable.

If you spend any amount of time on political social media, you’ve probably come across Adam James, better known as @epistemiccrisis. In fact, he’s been a guest on the show a couple times.

Adam built a massive audience discussing what he thinks is happening with Trump, Mitch McConnell, and other geriatric folks running our government. Whether you agreed with every conclusion or not, one thing was remarkably consistent: he presented his analysis as exactly what it was. His opinion.

He regularly reminded viewers that he wasn’t diagnosing anyone. He pointed to his more than 14 years of experience working in home healthcare with dementia patients, explained what he believed he was observing, and encouraged people to evaluate the evidence for themselves.

Now his TikTok account has been banned.

That should concern anyone who values independent media.

This isn’t really about whether you agreed with Adam’s analysis. It’s about the fact that a creator built an enormous audience, clearly framed his content as opinion, and then disappeared from one of the world’s largest platforms.

Maybe TikTok will reinstate the account. Maybe it won’t.

Either way, the message has already been sent.

For those of us who make our living creating independent content online, this is the reality we live with every day. We don’t own our audiences. We don’t own the platforms. Years of work can disappear because of a policy change, an opaque moderation decision, or pressure from people in positions of power.

Many of you know that I recently experienced my own version of this when the White House placed me on its so-called “media offender” list after I discussed Donald Trump’s health.

Now another creator whose content also focused heavily on Trump’s health has lost access to one of his largest platforms.

I’m not claiming those two events prove the same cause. But they point to the same underlying vulnerability: independent creators are increasingly dependent on platforms they don’t control.

Across all platforms, I now have nearly nine million followers. That sounds impressive until you remember one uncomfortable fact: none of those audiences actually belong to me.

If tomorrow a platform decides to suspend an account, change its recommendation system, or remove creators it no longer wants to amplify, years of work can vanish overnight.

That’s why I’ve spent so much time encouraging people to connect with independent creators in ways that don’t depend on social media algorithms.

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Thank you for being one of those people.

—David

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If you were a follower of Adam James on TikTok, you can find him at his new account here. And search for @epistemiccrisis on other social platforms.