Jonathan Bowen

Tag: Anthropic

  • I Declare Dependence

    I Do Declare

    It’s the 4th of July…

    Today, I’m declaring my independence from world, federal, and state governments. I’m declaring my independence from corporate America. I’m declaring my independence from social media platforms.

    In reality, I’m hamstrung. I can declare independence from all of those institutions, but it doesn’t mean anything because I’m inextricably tied to the state, tied to corporations, and tied to social media platforms. There is, however, a way to mitigate my dependence.

    Platforms Keep Power

    I’ve decided to relaunch jonathanbowen.boston today. I refuse to succumb to the whims of social media platforms. There have been too many stories of monetization loss across platforms like Instagram, X, and YouTube. 1

    I’ve grown my TikTok account to almost 29,000 followers; that’s nothing but a mental salve for “inclusion”. I want to be included — just like you — but I’ll never be liked or accepted by everybody. After years of self-reflection and therapy, I’ve accepted that fact.

    That account has frozen me solid because I know that my views are controversial. I put so much work into that TikTok account. If I post one thing or reply with one wry comment, TikTok could wipe my account away in an instant. The ownership instability, obviously, has been another issue. My TikTok account proves that people like my content and context.

    I’ve been waiting to see how things landed with TikTok’s new owner, Larry Ellison, but I’m not going to wait anymore. 2

    The same goes for X, formerly Twitter, which has permanently suspended two of my accounts under the old regime and has recently suspended my third account under Elon Musk’s regime. Elon promised freedom, but, well, I’m not free. 3 However, I’ve regrown my X account to almost 10,000 followers, which, again, shows that people enjoy my content and my context.

    In a wild set of circumstances, Linktree has suspended one of my accounts, unsuspended the same account, and recently resuspended that same account. In some cross-platform weirdness, which can’t be confirmed, Linktree suspended my account the first time around the same time Facebook blocked my “Jonathan Bowen dot Boston” Page. After recently being suspended by X, it’s done the same. 4

    After my X suspension, I tried Threads; it’s turned out to be a hive of leftist performatism. It’s a cesspool of self-victimhood. I recently posted something which indicted Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and Columbus Day as “racist” holidays.5 I truly believe that idea. The denizens of Threads mass reported me to eXp Realty, which separated itself from me during a kangaroo court of corporate self-congratulation.

    Human Voice Holds

    I have no power. I don’t want power. I want my voice. I want my unfettered views to be captured on a platform that I own. I want my voice to anger, unsettle, and create thoughts that spur an inner monologue.

    It’s the 4th of July. I am still dependent on the federal government and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I’m still dependent on corporate America. I am less dependent on social media platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, and X, than I was yesterday. It’s not a day of independence for me, but it is a day that I declare less dependence.

    I hope you’ll subscribe to my mailing list; it’s the best way for us to beat the social media platforms and the burgeoning AI megalopolies like Anthropic and OpenAI from killing the human spirit.

    Source Notes

    1. Meta, Instagram Content Monetization Policies, Instagram Help Center; X, X’s Creator Monetization Standards and Creator Revenue Sharing, X Help Center; Google, YouTube channel monetization policies and Monetization is disabled for my channel, YouTube Help. Accessed July 4th, 2026. ↩︎
    2. TikTok, Announcement from the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, January 22nd, 2026; Oracle, Larry Ellison: Executive Biography, accessed July 4th, 2026. TikTok’s announcement names Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX as the three managing investors in TikTok USDS Joint Venture, each at 15%, and says ByteDance retains 19.9%; Oracle identifies Ellison as executive chairman and chief technology officer. ↩︎
    3. Elon Musk (@elonmusk), “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter…”, X, April 25th, 2022; Elon Musk (@elonmusk), “@xAI has acquired @X in an all-stock transaction…”, X, March 28th, 2025. ↩︎
    4. Linktree, Jonathan Bowen profile, accessed July 4th, 2026; Facebook, Jonathan Bowen dot Boston page, accessed July 4th, 2026; Instagram, Jonathan Bowen (@jonathanbowendotboston), accessed July 4th, 2026. The Linktree profile URL currently resolves to Linktree’s blocked-account page, and the Facebook page displayed “This content isn’t available right now”; the timing, block history, appeal history, and resuspension sequence remain author-held platform records. ↩︎
    5. Jonathan Bowen (@jonbowen), “There are three racist American holidays…”, Threads, June 17th, 2026. This note identifies the public post at issue; private eXp-related records are not reproduced here. ↩︎