159: Chapter 159 Using the Same Trick Again

There was another thing worth mentioning:

As Huayao Communications' share of the global mobile phone market grew larger and larger,

Douyin also became a global sensation along with it,

becoming a new world giant.

Just like YouTube and the little blue bird, Twitter,

Douyin became a top-tier internet company on par with them.

Relying on Douyin's cultural output,

the people of the world welcomed a new great liberation.

Under the specific instructions of Bai Jingqing,

Zhang Yiming arranged many domestic videos from Dragon Country in Douyin's video stream.

When people all over the world were scrolling through Douyin,

they realized

that Dragon Country was not as dark and lifeless as the Western media described,

nor was it the terrifying totalitarian state of their traditional impression.

There,

the people lived and worked in peace and contentment,

life was very convenient,

the subways were clean and tidy,

and even the air was sweet!

The comments from foreigners under these videos

also led many domestic netizens to joke: "Great scholars are writing 'Readers Digest' stories for us!"

Two years ago,

when public intellectuals were everywhere,

many of them promoted propaganda,

saying things like "the moon is rounder abroad,"

"the air is fresher abroad,"

and "the water abroad is all sweet."

Now,

the situation had completely reversed.

Many foreign netizens stated,

"Dragon Country is practically my spiritual home!"

"The water in Dragon Country is sweet,

and the air is very fresh."

"I used to have allergies when I was in Eagle Country,

and no matter how I checked,

the allergen couldn't be found,

but after arriving in Dragon Country,

the allergies got better immediately.

This shows how good Dragon Country's environment is

and how fresh the air is!"

"Restaurants in Dragon Country have very strict hygiene requirements;

the plates there have to be washed six times.

If they aren't washed six times,

the employees will be fired."

"And in Dragon Country, people don't pick up things lost on the road;

they have always had this fine tradition.

The so-called 'not picking up things on the road'

means that if something is lost on the street,

people are too lazy to even pick it up,

because they are already far too affluent."

...

There were many such comments.

The comments under these Dragon Country videos were made into videos

and then sent back to the domestic internet,

leaving domestic netizens dumbfounded.

The more they read these comments, the more familiar they felt;

the flavor was just too strong!

As the true current situation of Dragon Country was exported to the world through Douyin more and more,

people worldwide also became more aware of this rapidly developing great nation,

and Dragon Country won the hearts of the people around the world.

As TikTok's market share in Eagle Country grew larger,

many residents of Eagle Country also came into contact with this new thing.

At first, not many people used it

because they had YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook,

and they felt those were enough.

But soon,

they noticed something was wrong:

These homegrown platforms in Eagle Country had to cooperate with the government,

and any speech unfavorable to the Eagle Country government simply couldn't be posted.

However, on Douyin,

they could see the situation in countries all over the world

and read real comments from various nations.

As a result,

many Eagle Country citizens switched to Douyin,

and they also criticized their government for being too harsh.

As residents of Eagle Country, residents of the 'Beacon of the Free World,'

they didn't even have the most basic freedom of speech!

All along,

the democracy and freedom promoted by Eagle Country were a total joke!

The Eagle Country government was, of course, extremely dissatisfied.

Seeing TikTok's market share in Eagle Country climbing higher and higher,

they once again harbored malicious intentions.

I pursue democracy and freedom,

but if you people use these weapons of democracy and freedom to attack me,

then I won't allow it.

You people actually dare to use TikTok to broadcast that our Eagle Country is undemocratic and unfree,

exposing our Eagle Country's scandals—

how could I possibly tolerate you?

Thus,

the Eagle Country Congress proposed a bill

wanting to ban TikTok,

demanding that TikTok be sold directly to an Eagle Country enterprise,

all core data be uploaded,

or else it must withdraw from Eagle Country

and face comprehensive sanctions from Eagle Country.

When this policy came out,

it once again caused a worldwide sensation.

This routine

seemed very familiar!

Back then, Dragon Country's Huayao Communications was sanctioned in the same way.

It seemed

Eagle Country only knew this one trick.

Now that Douyin was being sanctioned,

it could be considered following in the father's footsteps.

Zhang Yiming panicked

and asked Bai Jingqing what to do.

Bai Jingqing said, "Since they are repeating their old tricks,

then we just need to repeat ours."

So,

under Bai Jingqing's suggestion,

Zhang Yiming also had a copy of 'mencius' crafted out of pure gold

and gave it to James Smith, the Secretary of Commerce of Eagle Country.

Ever since James Smith started exchanging favors with these people from Dragon Country,

his life had become more and more comfortable.

Only then did he regret—

why hadn't he done this sooner?

His previous incorruptible appearance was really just an act!

Seeing the pure gold 'mencius' now,

he was in an even better mood.

Zhang Yiming told him with a chuckle, "Our Dragon Country has many, many cultural treasures.

I think we will have many more opportunities for cooperation in the future.

If you want,

we also have 'Sun Tzu', 'Lao Tzu', 'Zhuang Tzu', 'Han Fei Tzu'..."

However, although James Smith took the bribe,

he didn't actually get things done.

Or rather,

he alone couldn't change the mind of the entire Congress.

He could only express his regrets.

Zhang Yiming sighed;

it seemed the gold 'mencius' was given in vain.

He didn't know what to do again

and went to ask Bai Jingqing once more.

Bai Jingqing said, "This is also easy to handle.

Isn't TikTok already fully spread across Eagle Country?

It's fortunate that back then they only sanctioned Huayao

and didn't explicitly write down a sanction for TikTok,

which allowed TikTok to re-enter Eagle Country later

and make a comeback there.

Now, go and instruct the branch office over there

to send a pop-up to all Eagle Country users,

telling them that what the Eagle Country government is doing now is a contemptible act.

Have them call Congress one after another to report it,

requesting Congress to stop their illegal actions

and defend the reputation of Eagle Country as the independent, free, and democratic beacon of the world."

Zhang Yiming followed the instructions.

On this day,

all TikTok users in the entire Eagle Country received a pop-up,

and many people were indeed very dissatisfied with this move by Congress.

Many Eagle Country residents had already developed the habit of scrolling through TikTok every day

to look at beautiful girls from all over the world.

Now the Eagle Country Congress actually wanted to sanction TikTok!

They certainly wouldn't stand for it!

So, many people called Congress,

requesting that Congress be prohibited from banning TikTok.

The phones at Congress never stopped ringing;

the constant "beep-beep-beep" busy signals left the congressional staff exhausted.

Many Eagle Country residents started swearing as soon as the call connected,

completely ignoring what the receptionists were saying.

Either way, their only core demand was one: lift the restrictions on TikTok.

However, this didn't actually work;

instead, it further enraged the Eagle Country Congress.

Congress reiterated

that TikTok had seriously endangered Eagle Country's national security!

It was even detrimental to the stability of the country!

It must be banned!