TEEN DEBATE: TIKTOK
Two perspectives on the social media platform.
Image: Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
Published August 14, 2023
U.S. Legislators and the public are reconsidering TikTok for its potential security risks and adverse effects on youth. America’s teens are the primary users of TikTok. Two high school students, Raunak Mondal and Inara Woodrum, present their views and those of their peers as they argue why TikTok should or should not be banned and how it could be reformed.
A Teen’s Perspective: The Case for Reforming TikTok
By Raunak Mondal
This summer American lawmakers have initiated restrictions on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, from banning it in Montana to restricting it on government devices in Ohio. As a teen, I do see that TikTok has become a place of political and social polarization, particularly due to its algorithm. This is especially problematic for children because they are being introduced to a homogenous content at a young age, which prevents them from interacting with a variety of opinions before their brains matures. The best solution to this problem: redesign the TikTok algorithm to prevent younger users from viewing divisive content.
TikTok has a specific algorithm, which is a process that inputs the user’s preferences towards initial randomized content shown to them. Then all subsequent content is geared towards those preferences. For example, if a user is given an equal mixture of sports, gaming, food, and nature videos, and the user watches the gaming videos for a longer period of time and is more likely to “like” or comment on gaming videos, then the TikTok algorithm will display gaming videos most of the time. In addition, TikTok doesn’t have manual content moderation (like American platforms of Facebook or Twitter) and is instead automated, potentially reflecting biases found in AI networks. It is designed this way to maximize users on the platform, and TikTok’s belief is that users will stay on the platform if it displays what the user wants.
The TikTok algorithm has brought concern to many parents as it has radicalized some children into pursuing extremist views such as fatphobia, misogyny, racism, and homophobia. For example, the trend of “Mukbang” challenges, where users try to eat as much food as possible within a short period of time, has caused many people to embrace unhealthy eating habits while simultaneously pushing other users, especially misogynistic young men, to be fatphobic women doing these challenges. Also, the new trend of young users emulating Andrew Tate, a controversial media personality known for his misogynist views, has led many users to choose him as their role model rather than influential change makers such as Joe Biden or even Malala Yousafzai.
In addition, a new TikTok teen trend relies on using stereotypes for communicating with others. An example of this is a young man posting the statement, “Her favorite color is blue so I blew her up (Arab rizz)”, where he uses the stereotype to insinuate that a violent Arab man would blow-up his partner up as a form of romantic attraction. Additionally, users have pushed racial stereotypes upon Darius Pork, which is the Black spinoff of the recent trend of John Pork (e.g. “Darius Pork ran away from the police”). These examples show how blatantly racist and inaccurate stereotypes are perpetuated within the platform in an innocuous manner, which can cause kids using the app to believe that racial or gender stereotypes can be humorous instead of being harmful or even dangerous.
All of these trends point to the TikTok algorithm leading young children to think they are being cool or funny by supporting extremist movements. This limits their social development to confine to the beliefs of that movement instead of having a diverse amount of perspectives. This is particularly worrying given TikTok’s relatively young user demographic: 60% of its users are below the age of 25, making them more vulnerable to misinformation.
I care about TikTok being deeply polarized because I go to a diverse high school in suburban San Diego. I'm seeing the impacts of TikTok promoting racial stereotypes through its algorithm. It is causing friend groups to become more ethnically homogeneous because students become wary of interacting with teens of other cultural backgrounds due to stereotypes. For example, if a Middle Eastern person enters a classroom, some students will say phrases such as “9/11 is coming”. As a result of this, many students are used to the racism that they face on a daily basis. In my middle school years before TikTok was prevalent, most friend groups were based on classes and interests and not related to race or ethnicity. Today, I see that TikTok is increasingly popular among my middle schooler acquaintances who are repeating these same stereotypical behaviors they see on TikTok.
I believe that the TikTok algorithm should be reformed to prevent massive outbreaks of polarization from happening in the near future driven by the current generation of radicalized teens. We should reduce the aspect of the algorithm that is causing people to receive more homogenous content to allow for more diverse content while still allowing the user to see the topics that they are interested in. In addition, the algorithm should limit polarizing content, where polarization could be measured by the ratio of the number of comments to the number of likes. This should especially be introduced in the genre of content that the user is interested in.
While some critics of TikTok would like to see it banned in the United States or at least regulated when it comes to its usage by children, as a teenager living in a democratic nation, I don’t believe that any major social media platform should be restricted. Banning TikTok could violate the 1st amendment of the American Constitution. I also believe that TikTok should stay because it has allowed many American youths to see authentic content from other parts of the world through an unbiased perspective. Despite the recent concerns of the potential influence of the Chinese government on TikTok, the algorithm found in TikTok is surprisingly technically democratic and it is unlikely for it to be fully controlled by the CCP.
TikTok has changed the socialization, entertainment, and communication of my generation. With some positives it has also raised significant concerns that need to be addressed through the reform of the TikTok algorithm. If left unchecked, the radicalization of kids through TikTok will lead to the polarization of American society and our politics in the future.
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TikTok: Innocent Diversion or Sly Manipulator?
By Inara Woodrum
On May 17th Montana Governor signed Senate Bill 419, making Montana the first state in the country to ban the Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok, effective January 1st, 2024. There have been widespread concerns across the nation regarding TikTok’s dangers to American data security and particularly to children and teens. As an American teen who has studied abroad in China, I view TikTok as a predator waiting in the wings for just the right moment to launch its own agenda under the guise of innocent fun.
I am concerned by my peers' use of TikTok as the data that the app collects can be used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to spread their ideology on the next generation of Americans and impact the freedoms we take for granted. America is TikTok's largest audience at over 135 million users with a quarter of these being children and teens, aged 10 to 19.
Children and teens are TikTok's largest American audience, but also the most impressionable and easily influenced without necessarily being aware of the potential dangers.
TikTok is arguably the most engaging social media app available. Its short 15 to 60-second constant stream of entertaining videos provides the brain with immediate stimulation, causing the brain to want more. While the streaming of content is used by other social media apps, TikTok’s content stream is just a wee bit different. How? In a nutshell, instead of a feed filled with content from people you follow, TikTok feeds you what it thinks you want to see from a variety of users. Seems harmless. What’s the big deal? Why does the government want to take away your favorite toy?
TikTok is a subsidiary of the Chinese technology firm, ByteDance, located in Beijing, China.
As a Chinese company, they must abide by all the laws of the CCP, the only ruling political party of present-day China. Unlike in American democracy, there are no legal limits to CCP’s powers.
Why is that important? In 2017, the National Intelligence Law of the People's Republic of China was passed. This law contains Article 7 which states: “All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts...” This means every Chinese citizen or business entity, like TikTok, shall answer to the Chinese government in any request they are asked to and to work in the interests of the CCP.
Teens know that social media companies can collect their personal data but are not aware of the unique dangers TikTok poses. I conducted a survey in my high school of some 50 students and 92% of the participants were aware that their personal data (including location) is available to be accessed by individuals, companies, and foreign governments. However, only 50% of respondents voiced concern about this. Even less (40%), responded that the data collected by these companies could be used in a negative way.
Teens vaguely know that the content in their online profiles could impact their life here in America: from admission to their dream college or future lucrative job opportunities if admissions officers and human resources departments don’t like what they see. However, not one teen verbalized the implications of how their social media usage could personally affect them outside of our borders. One of the survey respondents stated “foreign countries do not care about my data,” echoing the sentiment of many of my peers.
I can assure you that entities like the CCP do care. One day we will be America’s voters and leaders. What better way to know your potential enemy than to know exactly where they are, what they listen to, read, watch, and even eat, while simultaneously having the ability to feed your adversary exactly what you want them to see when you want them to see it. Is TikTok just an unsophisticated toy? Or is it a subtle but powerful method of control?
As an authoritarian state, China has pervasive militant tight control over society. The CCP controls and has the ability to censor all media in China, and they routinely do. You won’t find the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest or accurate and authentic Covid 19 information on any widespread Chinese social media site.
The basic classroom etiquette I was expected to uphold during my 3 weeks in a Chinese public school a few years ago, demonstrated how this control affects every aspect of Chinese life. The rigid behavioral expectations in a Chinese classroom are a dramatic contrast to the freedoms allocated to teens in American classrooms. Military precision rows. Feet flat on the floor. Eyes forward. Hands visible. Complete attention and utter silence during instruction. Rising from your chair without explicit permission? Speaking without being called upon? Using the restroom at will? Forget it.
While you might be thinking, I live in America, not China. This is true. However, just this past May, The Acton Institute, an American research and educational institution located in Michigan, had their TikTok account suspended for posting content related to Jimmy La, a pro-democracy activist. TikTok even confirmed, ByteDance employees used the app to track the location of American journalists in 2022. I cannot help but wonder if TikTok is not as immune to the strict control of the CCP and the all-encompassing ambiguity of Chinese laws as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chou claimed in the spring Congressional hearing.
I believe it’s about time that we take action to mitigate the dangers of TikTok. Other states should follow Montana’s lead and ban TikTok, at the very minimum to kids and teens and on public entities (school and government wifi). However, it's also important to educate both teens and their parents through campaigns (potentially on streaming services and other social media) about the extent of data that TikTok collects and how it can and has been used to target American citizens.
Bit by bit, nibble by nibble, byte by byte, the constant stream of those 15 to 60-second videos popping up on the For You Page (FYP) from creators you don’t know, leaves you craving more of something. Something you didn’t know you wanted. Maybe it isn’t even a thing. Maybe it's an idea or a specific viewpoint. Maybe it’s even some other country's or political system’s idea of what you need or how you need to behave, which is something you don’t need at all.
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Raunak Mondal is a rising junior at Del Norte High School in San Diego. He studies and researches the intersection of AI and sociology. Follow @RaunakMondal10
Inara Woodrum is a rising high school sophomore in Texas. She intends to study international relations and is interested in how different countries' cultural norms affect world politics.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
