Temu isn’t a social media network that has been known to boost specific narratives with their algorithm. The U.S. isn’t saying that China can’t sell and market to the American audience, just that they’ll need a supervisor if they want to mess with media.

Yeah don’t fucking do this if you care about your friend. These scams can end up putting people in life-threatening amounts of debt, and the shame of being scammed by someone they thought they loved has driven people to suicide.

OP, if you and your friends all really care about this guy, you should talk to him about it and try to prevent him from sending any more money. Maybe bring some research on “pig-butchering” schemes, which is probably what your friend is falling for unfortunately, and show them the similarities. If you still can’t convince him, try and remain sympathetic so you can pick him up when the scam is finished.

You didn’t have to mention his party, everyone knew he was a Republican from the headline.

In case you weren’t aware, it’s actually pretty easy to pay for a VPN in unmarked funds. Most will allow for BTC transactions, but some VPNs will even allow you to use giftcards for a place like Target.

This almost feels like bait, your instance is Lemmy.ml. The ml stands for Marxist-Leninist, your home instance is literally the home for far-left ideology. You’ll still see a leftist bant for the reasons commenters have mentioned, but the single biggest reason is that your instance is owned and operated by them.