Why Tiktok Deserves (Accurate) Scrutiny
I used Tiktok nearly religiously ever since the pandemic. Nearly 6 months ago, I finally uninstalled the app.
The platform has serious problems and has had serious issues since its creation. Even long before the app reached the popularity it has today, it was embroiled with horrific lack of moderation and still is. Unfortunately the racist fixation on it being a platform made by a Chinese company completely brushes aside the serious issues it has on its own.
The entire platform is effectively unmoderated. I could go in-depth to just how unsafe kids are there, but I think highlighting the fact that there's been more than one moment of NSFW trends kids have engaged in is evidence enough.
Misinformation proliferates on the platform in such an intense way I see no other platform reach. It doesn't help that kids will actually use Tiktok as a search engine and get results within the app. There are entire news accounts dedicated to pushing blatant propaganda as well that goes completely unquestioned. It's like clickbait taken to its final form.
Another aspect of Tiktok which was the reason I finally deleted the app, the antisemitism. People on Tiktok take antisemitism to a near violent degree. Whenever a post made by a Jew goes viral and the video mentions Jewish culture, the comments are a cesspool. Being on Jewish on Tiktok feels extremely unsafe. There was a point briefly before last October where some Jewish creators were somewhat celebrated. After last October though, the Jewish creators people were briefly fawning over became targets of intense harassment due to dissatisfaction to them failing their perceived obligation as Jews in the public eye to speak about Israel & Palestine. There is no moderation on blatant antisemitism, and at times it's almost like the algorithm encourages it.
It honestly won't hurt my feelings that much if the app is removed from app stores. In its current state, it's extremely harmful in so many ways (even in quite a few that weren't mentioned above) but it's unfortunate that most of the push to get it removed isn't based on any of the legitimate issues above but rather pretty blatant racism instead.
Articles and links highlighting these topics well: How TikTok’s # MyJewishHeritage plan went horribly awry – Forward How Jewish Tiktokers are Trying to Reclaim an Antisemitic Trend – Forward How fast does TikTok send users down the antisemitic rabbit hole? – Forward This video by Youtuber D'Angelo Wallace from four years ago highlights one of their biggest controversies that no one seems to talk about