[Music]
who knew lip syncing could be this
problematic
hey guys it's tv with watchmojo today
we're taking a look at the top 10 dark
secrets behind tiktok
tiktok is an app i guarantee that your
kids and grandkids know about
it's also quite possible some of them
spend a little bit
too much time on the app than you would
like we're taking a look at the
troubling
issues plaguing this app from malevolent
users to strange content
to the questionable actions that the
apps team have taken against their
consumers
let's get to it if you like what you're
hearing
be sure to check out the full song at
the link below
[Music]
number 10 the views encourage danger
with over a billion downloads there's
been a lot of competition to stand out
on tick tock
i want to introduce you to the cereal
challenge which involves pouring cereal
and milk into someone's mouth that is
a recipe for disaster literally these
overwhelming odds have driven many
people to put their lives on the line
just for views and likes
there have been multiple tragic
accidents involving stunts
flames and even weapons to shock friends
into watching
while others have been distracted by
their filming and wandered into traffic
the life-threatening incidents involving
the app have even warranted websites
dedicated to tallying all the damage
whether it was social media attention or
attempts to monetize fame
tiktok has inadvertently given people
motivation to dabble in far too risky
behavior
number nine location info many apps use
gps functions to help users find places
nearby
but tiktok faces accusations of hoarding
this data
the us army has banned the app due to
claims that it tracks location
information whether or not it's open
which obviously could be compromising
for a military unit
and then there's the additional
speculation that the chinese government
can legally access all of this data from
the app's beijing parent company bite
dance in 2017 the beijing-based company
bite dance purchased the u.s social
media
app musically merged it into their
tick-tock app
and opened tick-tock's headquarters in
california it's unclear whether
tick-tock is trying to mine data for
profit or simply for optimization
but regardless the potential for a leak
is worrisome
especially considering tick-tock doesn't
truly need gps to work
number eight strange censorship it hurts
for everyone no matter who you are
getting hundreds of thousands of hate
comments per week is
a lot to handle bullying has plagued
content creators on tiktok but the app's
initial solution was to suppress
possible victims
which is to say tiktok has admitted to
limiting exposure for posts from members
of lgbtq plus and disabled communities
in an effort to protect them this move
sparked criticism for diminishing
representation
and furthering the alienation of already
marginalized groups
meanwhile ticktock faced additional
criticism for allegedly removing videos
highlighting poverty or
same-sex romance in efforts to appease
various national governments
thus contributing to larger systemic
oppression though tick-tock has denied
rumors of overt discrimination
their methods of solving harassment
might have hurt victims more than
perpetrators
number 7 taking down critics tick tock's
suggestive videos involving children
have been met with complaints
since the musically days an infamous
case involved
streamer paymoney wubby who had posted a
video mocking users and critiquing the
app's lack of oversight
the video was removed from youtube due
to a copyright strike from bite dance
prompting confusion given the hundreds
of compilation videos featuring tik-tok
content that were left online
payment webby himself cited his negative
comments as the true reason for the
attack
however skepticism towards bite dance
was already boiling
given their legal action against a
chinese newspaper for its coverage of
their platform
and given that bite dance has been so
inconsistent at handling their
inappropriate content
their priorities have drawn flack of
their own number six
cyberbullying on a larger scale hashtags
were a problematic issue on musically
generating negative attention even
before they merged with tick-tock
search keywords involving misogyny
eating disorders and self-harm
had brought up a wealth of results which
was particularly concerning given the
app's large
youth audience musically did eventually
make these words unsearchable though
some tags remain clickable within videos
for a time
and less overtly worrying tags like ugly
and worthless still exist on tiktok
as the app has promoted people to their
4u feed with little notice
there has been concern over children
being bullied by strangers without
warning
their constant reacting rather than
planning shows that tick tock hasn't
safeguarded users from vitriol well
number five it doesn't pay its stars
would you
like a treat
would you like a treat tiktok generates
revenue from its 500 million active
users through advertising and
in-app purchases of coins according to
pitchbook the app is now worth a
staggering
75 billion dollars however so far
tick-tock has decided not to share
revenue with its stars
at the moment there's no partner program
a la youtube
in other words the people who make tick
tock's actual content
don't get paid it's thomas and chase
that's even if your video gets a
gazillion views
instead tick-tock creators make money by
looking for sponsorship deals
this has been criticized as unfair and
probably unsustainable
if tiktok wants to retain creators this
will probably have to change in the long
run
number four holding problematic data
though malicious users have provided
trouble for musically and tick talk
their own data aggregation has caused
trouble with the law
the federal trade commission bind by
dance over five million dollars for
collecting information on children under
the age of 13 without parental consent
additional court filings from concerned
parents noted that the app's location
tracking was alarming given their young
user base
to their credit ticktock has added
parental tools and vowed to remove
videos from kids under the age minimum
now the section you're looking for is
called digital well-being why did they
choose that i have no idea
but you're going to click in the digital
well-being and then you'll see a section
called screen time management now
and there's also a restricted mode all
of this meant that adults have had their
content farmed by the company for some
time
and the opaque denials from their
company representatives haven't
diminished fears either
no mention of controversy here just a
message that tick-tock is just getting
started
number three connections to china amid
all the protests in hong kong
tiktok was reported on for its
suspicious lack of protest content
their beijing-based parent company bite
dance has raised worries about chinese
interference on the app
stories of content being removed for
anti-china sentiment have popped up
repeatedly
despite tiktok claiming that they aren't
folding to government pressure
moderators were told to remove
references to tiananmen square
they were told to remove references to
the falun gong religious group
they were told to remove references to
taiwanese independence the app's early
guidelines had allegedly confirmed
policies that followed this trend the
united states has even launched a
national security investigation against
the app
amid fears of counter-intelligence there
are 110
million americans who have information
with tick-tock
and the chinese government could be
grabbing every one of them however tick
tock's statements that the u.s was
demanding for more video takedowns than
china has only made the whole situation
more doubtful
tiktok says all of that data is stored
entirely
outside of china and not subject to
chinese law
but data security experts aren't so sure
number two
lewd or offensive content with a deluge
of content uploaded to tick tock daily
a lot of disturbing videos have made it
onto the platform
the largest complaints have been around
the suggestive content
involving partial nudity and lewd
dancing the overwhelming number of child
users on the app have aggravated worries
over exposure and mimicking what others
are doing how many is using
that app every class for the last couple
weeks that i spoke to
third fourth and fifth grade they're
bringing it up they're aware of
tick-tock
parents on the other hand when i've
spoken to them they have no idea what it
is even with all the parental control
maxed out
tik-tok hasn't been able to block
inappropriate lyrics in their music for
minors
what concerns information security
expert rick floyd is the way tick tock
exposes users to not just potentially
inappropriate video and language
but the world's most far-reaching chat
channel all the questionable material
has piled up to the point that many
countries have started banning the app
in response
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number one concern over predators have
you ever been approached by someone you
don't know on tick tock
yes i block them now on top of the
concerns that kids are seeing or posting
suggestive content on tick tock
there's a bigger problem reports exist
that predators have targeted young users
on the app
soliciting images or offering to meet
even unsolicited content that miners
share to each other has been reportedly
copied to sites and shared in nefarious
communities
what's happening are these predators are
then
once they become on your friends list
they are then able to
expose themselves to you tick tock's
bans on reported accounts
have been wildly inconsistent and they
have often deleted more comments than
users
while the majority of the comments were
indeed taken down after they were
reported
only a handful and i repeat a handful
of the accounts that were posting those
comments
were actually suspended due to
tick-tocks in action
parental controls and monitoring have
been the only consistent way to protect
children
a vigilante group in america took
matters into their own hands
do you mind explaining to me why you're
here to meet up with a 16 year old girl
and with the app's immense following
it's become one of the world's biggest
chat rooms for predators to exploit
let's just say that if your kids are
using tick-tock it's probably a good
idea to just
keep an eye on them just in case what do
you guys think
let us know in the comments below or
tweet me at phoebe underscore wm
and check out this video do you agree
with our picks let us know in the
comments
and hey if you're a fan of the song
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