TikTok and its controversies

Since TikTok has also been celebrating its success on the market worldwide, the critical points that this application brings with it are also becoming louder and louder.

It is estimated that approximately one billion people use the social media platform. Why exactly is TikTok so successful? Of course, it's no secret that there are long plans behind it. Short and fast videos directly activate our dopamine center. But not only the AI that evaluates and collects our data is highly controversial.

 

Privacy, being based in China and moral concepts

According to Cnet.com, biometric data is stored, as many of the uploaded videos show users' faces up close. The app also stores users' contacts, email addresses, IP addresses, locations and other private data.

 How TikTok's "For you" page actually works and which videos go viral is a secret that the company carefully guards. According to the German site Netzpolitik.org, however, TikTok repeatedly discriminates when it comes to selecting which videos are favored. For example, the company is said to have instructed its moderators to specially mark videos of people with disabilities and artificially limit their reach.

For example: members of the LGBTQ+ community users are also said to have ended up on this list of "special users". According to a leaked document, the company cited the increased risk of bullying to which such users are exposed as the reason for this. However, it is questionable whether the moral concept of China's communist, dictatorial government is not behind this. After all, the startup is still based in China, and since Byte (the startup behind TikTok) is currently considered one of the most influential companies (worldwide), the Chinese government certainly has a hand in it. It should be noted that the Chinese version of TikTok is a platform that once again focuses on political propaganda. So it's no wonder that Chinese users have their own app so that the idea of the West doesn't have any influence on the population.

 


Besides all the political and social consequences that this platform can bring, there are of course also personal ones. TikTok can spread political attitudes or fake news, so that is a social and political consequence. On the personal level, it carries with it the risk of confusing us. Because dull content, stupid entertainment, without nutritional value, and then also every second, simply can not be good for the soul. We've been talking for a long time about the consequences of social media, the consequences for young people, for children, but also for adults. I would say that TikTok is the most overdone example of a social platform with little nutritional value (it still exists). Especially children and teenagers are at risk of being taken too much by these platforms. But I also had to experience it myself. Through the special feed function, I was sucked in no less than 7 hours at a time. I would like to note that a video usually lasts no longer than 15 seconds. You can only imagine what kind of impact that has on an even younger brain.

Basically, all social media are out to keep the user on the platform as long as possible. That's why this isn't meant to be a TikTok bash, because Facebook, Instagram, Tinder and Co, also have some concepts that are aimed at making money instead of progress. And that's how all these companies disguise themselves. Metaverse is supposed to be progress. But I will talk about the Metaverse in another post.

 

Since I use social media myself and also find nutritional value, I'm all for creating awareness first. What are we actually using? What is it doing to us? How do I use these platforms wisely? Is it smart to boycott certain platforms?