BBC: TikTok’s Boogaloo extremism problem. “The song is catchy – a classic country and western. A gentle southern twang croons out a chorus. Like many TikTok clips, the user has added music and effects to their video. This is not a normal TikTok vid though. First of all, the username clearly contains a homophobic reference. Second, the man is holding a massive assault rifle.”
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Poynter: As TikTok grapples with weightier topics, journalists are tuning in to deliver the news
Poynter: As TikTok grapples with weightier topics, journalists are tuning in to deliver the news. “CNN’s Max Foster started using TikTok to understand what his kids were up to online. He saw straight TikTok, where teenagers do choreographed dances from their parents’ homes. And he saw elite or alt TikTok, where users impersonate vegetables, retail brands and frogs. Mostly, he saw an opportunity for journalists.”
Refinery29: The Worst Social Media App For Sleep Is TikTok
Refinery29: The Worst Social Media App For Sleep Is TikTok. “I’m a great sleeper. Usually I browse reddit before bed, but even with all that blue light beaming into my eyes, and even when I’m knee-deep in the most infuriatingly hilarious AITA thread ever (pro tip: sort by controversial), my eyelids start to droop around midnight, my phone falling out of my hand somewhere east of my head. But when I started scrolling TikTok, that natural shutdown did not occur. Half a year later, it has still not occurred. I’m not a daily user, but when I do open the app at night, it keeps me up. Eyes plastered open, index finger rubbed raw from swiping. Even once I force myself to put the phone down, it takes me 20 minutes or so to calm down enough to drift off to sleep.”
TechCrunch: YouTube’s latest experiment is a TikTok rival focused on 15-second videos
TechCrunch: YouTube’s latest experiment is a TikTok rival focused on 15-second videos. “Users in the new YouTube experiment will see an option to ‘create a video’ in the mobile upload flow, the company says. Similar to TikTok, the user can then tap and hold the record button to record their clip. They can then tap again or release the button to stop recording. This process is repeated until they’ve created 15 seconds worth of video footage. YouTube will combine the clips and upload it as one single video when the recording completes. In other words, just like TikTok.”
BBC: India bans TikTok, WeChat and dozens more Chinese apps
BBC: India bans TikTok, WeChat and dozens more Chinese apps. “India’s government has banned TikTok and dozens more Chinese-made apps it says are a danger to the country. In a statement, it said the apps were ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order’. In total, 59 apps were banned – among them popular messaging app WeChat. It follows escalating tensions along the disputed border between the two powers.”
New York Times: ‘PizzaGate’ Conspiracy Theory Thrives Anew in the TikTok Era
New York Times: ‘PizzaGate’ Conspiracy Theory Thrives Anew in the TikTok Era. “Four years ago, ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the baseless notion that Hillary Clinton and Democratic elites were running a child sex-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizzeria spread across the internet, illustrating how a crackpot idea with no truth to it could blossom on social media — and how dangerous it could be…. In the years afterward, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube managed to largely suppress PizzaGate. But now, just months before the next presidential election, the conspiracy theory is making a comeback on these platforms — and on new ones such as TikTok — underlining the limits of their efforts to stamp out dangerous speech online and how little has changed despite rising public frustration.”
The Verge: Are TikTok activists actually shutting down Trump’s online merch stores? An investigation
The Verge: Are TikTok activists actually shutting down Trump’s online merch stores? An investigation. “Some critics of President Donald Trump have spent the last few days trying to lock up Trump-branded merchandise by leaving thousands of products from his online stores in shopping carts. But while the attack has become a kind of resistance meme, reminiscent of recent pranks on the president’s Tulsa rally, it’s far less clear whether the hoax actually prevented Trump’s stores from selling merchandise.”
ThreatPost: TikTok To Stop Clipboard Snooping After Apple Privacy Feature Exposes Behavior
ThreatPost: TikTok To Stop Clipboard Snooping After Apple Privacy Feature Exposes Behavior. “App will stop reading users’ device cut-and-paste data after a new banner alert in an Apple update uncovered the activity. A new privacy feature in Apple iOS 14 sheds light on TikTok’s practice of reading iPhone users’ cut-and-paste data, even though the company said in March it would stop.”
Tubefilter: At NewFronts, TikTok Brings Ad Offerings To The Fore With New ‘TikTok For Business’ Platform
Tubefilter: At NewFronts, TikTok Brings Ad Offerings To The Fore With New ‘TikTok For Business’ Platform. “TikTok took a major public-facing step with respect to its ad business today with a new website dubbed TikTok For Business, where marketers can review all of the platform’s ad products, make purchases, track their spending, and glean information about best practices.”
Mashable: The stark divide between ‘Straight TikTok’ and ‘Alt TikTok’
Mashable: The stark divide between ‘Straight TikTok’ and ‘Alt TikTok’. “TikTok is notorious for its viral dances, lip synced ‘acting,’ and uncomfortably horny POV videos in which the user pretends to take the audience out on dates. But on another side of the platform, which algorithmically recommends content based on each user’s preferences, is ‘Alt TikTok.’ Also known as ‘Gay TikTok,’ ‘Beans TikTok,’ or ‘Elite TikTok,’ the subsect rejects mainstream trends in favor of surreal humor and alternative aesthetics. Shaped by the dredges of emo culture and the heavy Dadaist influence of its millennial predecessors, Alt TikTok embodies all that is queer.”
Screen Rant: How To Use Instagram Filters To Create TikTok Videos
Screen Rant: How To Use Instagram Filters To Create TikTok Videos. “Using popular Instagram filters to create TikTok videos is a great way to combine the best of both social media platforms, and even give TikTokkers an edge over the competition. While it might seem difficult to take the filters from one app and use them in another, it is actually fairly easy to do, and worth the extra effort to create a video that is less often seen on TikTok.”
TikTok: Fears videos may ‘trigger eating disorders’ (BBC)
BBC: TikTok: Fears videos may ‘trigger eating disorders’. “Social media app TikTok could encourage unhealthy relationships with food and trigger people who have suffered eating disorders, campaigners have said. The video app is one of the most popular in the world, with more than 800m users – 41% of those users between the age of 16 and 24. But there are fears some of the content glamorises eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.”
New York Times: The TikTok House Wreaking Havoc Next Door
New York Times: The TikTok House Wreaking Havoc Next Door . “When a group of young men moved into a 7,800-square-foot mansion on a quiet street in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles in late January, their new neighbors took notice. Some assumed they were tech entrepreneurs. How else could they afford rent? Soon, the block’s residents began to observe what one might call frat-like behavior.”
CNBC: TikTok is the new place to learn about managing your money
CNBC: TikTok is the new place to learn about managing your money. “TikTok recently announced a new initiative, #LearnOnTikTok. The program will fund various educational videos in order to provide learning opportunities during the Covid-19 lockdown. The content is being funded through TikTok’s $50 million creative learning fund, which is apart of its broader $250 million commitment to assisting with the impacts of the pandemic.”
ABC News Australia: Like MySpace before it, TikTok is putting music discovery back into fans’ hands
ABC News Australia: Like MySpace before it, TikTok is putting music discovery back into fans’ hands. “Platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and even Vine (R.I.P.) weren’t specifically built for the purpose of sharing and discovering music, but that element has always been wrapped up in the DNA of social media. So what makes TikTok different? It’s hardly the first app to allow users to wear their music like a badge of honour. But in terms of music discovery, it’s arguably the closest successor to the grandpa of social media: MySpace.”
