This BBC documentary explores the harmful side of the social media app.
As with other social media apps, video-sharing app TikTok has evolved since its launch in 2016. Initially, the platform focused on lighthearted lip-syncing and dancing videos, which just eight years on seems incredibly quaint.
For this compelling – if not comprehensive – BBC documentary, Marianna Spring, the channel’s disinformation correspondent , spent a year investigating some of the app’s harmful behaviour and the subsequent real-world consequences, in particular when TikTokkers involve themselves in real-world crime cases.
This didn’t deter TikTokkers from conducting their own investigations, though, and in less than two weeks, posts moved from speculation to wild conspiracy theories, including that Bulley’s friend was impersonating her, that her husband was a suspect and even that her disappearance was staged by the government. And then the content creators began to descend on her village, so many that the Lancashire police were granted extra dispersal powers to remove social media influencers from the scene.
But it’s the insiders Spring talks to who are the most revealing. Former TikTok employees tell Spring that the app was never equipped for anything more than lip-syncing and dance routines, and that limiting online frenzies was seen to slow down its massive growth.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Murder, misinformation and frenzies: the dark side of TikTokThis BBC documentary explores the harmful side of the social media app.
Read more »
TikTok, TikTok … time’s up for Trump?Forget policies, this US election will be all about personalities. And what’s working for Kamala Harris right now are the very things Republicans hate about her.
Read more »
TikTok, TikTok … time’s up for Trump?Forget policies, this US election will be all about personalities. And what’s working for Kamala Harris right now are the very things Republicans hate about her.
Read more »
TikTok, TikTok … time’s up for Trump?Forget policies, this US election will be all about personalities. And what’s working for Kamala Harris right now are the very things Republicans hate about her.
Read more »
Man charged with murder and attempted murder after fight at Bentleigh East homeA man is dead and a woman is fighting for life in hospital after an altercation in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
Read more »
BBC charity removes promo video featuring Southport murder accusedAxel Rudakubana appeared, aged 11, as Doctor Who character in 2018 advert for BBC Children in Need
Read more »