Thread by @joe10sebastian, What is Indian TikTok but a sink of localism, a den of [...]

Joseph Sebastian

joe10sebastian

What is Indian TikTok but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance and narrow mindedness?

Obnoxiously bad content is not exclusive to TikTok. It’s rampant on other platforms too (Paul brothers on YouTube, influencers who use people as props, Karan Johar on Netflix).

Please don’t mindlessly defend TikTok as some democratic messiah that provided a platform to the not-so-privileged to express themselves.

I downloaded TikTok around early 2019 to see what’s all the hype about. I never made an account and simply scrolled through its home feed to understand see what the algorithm would throw at me.

Crying boys, boht hard girls, a male TikTok influencer was the flavour those days.

Soon the algorithm started throwing videos that had a casteist slant. Here are some compilations of the same -
https://youtu.be/ua2LgH28C6Y ">https://youtu.be/ua2LgH28C... https://youtu.be/btxwSHJ2qU8 ">https://youtu.be/btxwSHJ2q...

Here’s an article about how TikTok added to India’s hate speech epidemic - https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tiktok-india-hate-speech-caste">https://www.wired.co.uk/article/t...

TikTok is fuelling India's deadly hate speech epidemic

In small-town India, TikTok videos are a new hate speech minefield. Thousands of videos are being removed as users exploit the wild growth of the social network

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tiktok-india-hate-speech-caste

Videos of a people brandishing guns and showing off wealth were OK OK a rage too. Unfortunately one attempt resulted in this - https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/story/delhi-teen-shot-dead-as-pistol-goes-off-while-filming-tiktok-video-1501899-2019-04-14">https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/sto...

Delhi teen shot dead as pistol goes off while filming TikTok video

A murder case and a case under the Arms Act have been registered at Barakhamba Police Station after the incident. The 19-year-old victim's friends have also been arrested.

https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/story/delhi-teen-shot-dead-as-pistol-goes-off-while-filming-tiktok-video-1501899-2019-04-14

This year, TikTok was accused of filtering out videos from ‘ugly’, poor or differently abled users - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/17/tiktok-tried-to-filter-out-videos-from-ugly-poor-or-disabled-users
I’m">https://www.theguardian.com/technolog... guessing this is one of the reasons boys crying on TikTok is no longer a thing.

TikTok 'tried to filter out videos from ugly, poor or disabled users'

Documents from the Incercept show social media app put pressure on moderators

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/17/tiktok-tried-to-filter-out-videos-from-ugly-poor-or-disabled-users

I can go on and on about TikTok’s shady practices and its users’ talent of peddling low effort and often problematic material as ‘content’ and ‘self expression’.

But that’s not the point of this rant. The point is #catsoftiktok >>> #catsofinstagram

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