{"id":32230,"date":"2022-07-23T11:19:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T11:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?p=32230"},"modified":"2022-07-23T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T11:20:00","slug":"is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","title":{"rendered":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_43 counter-flat ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4e74b1111fd\" class=\"cssicon\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4e74b1111fd\"  class=\"cssiconcheckbox\">1<\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4e74b1111fd\" ><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\/#Is_There_a_Dark_Side_of_TikTok\" title=\"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?\">Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\/#Straight_TikTok\" title=\"Straight TikTok\">Straight TikTok<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\/#Dangerous_content\" title=\"Dangerous content\">Dangerous content<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\/#Censorship\" title=\"Censorship\">Censorship<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\/#Privacy_concerns\" title=\"Privacy concerns\">Privacy concerns<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_There_a_Dark_Side_of_TikTok\"><\/span>Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/jh1HwyT.jpg\" alt=\"Is there a dark side of TikTok\" style=\"height:auto; max-width:41% width:auto; margin:0px 10px; max-height:291px;\" align=\"right\"> <\/p>\n<p>While the positive aspects of the app have made headlines, there&#8217;s a dark side. While the popularity of the video app has spurred new videos, some charities have warned that it can put young people at risk of falling victim to paedophiles. Other issues surrounding TikTok include censorship and privacy concerns. In this article, we&#8217;ll discuss these concerns and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Straight_TikTok\"><\/span>Straight TikTok<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Straight TikTok is one of the most popular types of TikTok videos, but that doesn&#8217;t mean you have to be a straight person to enjoy it. There are a few ways to stand out from the mainstream, and some videos are more edgy than others. Those videos are considered &#8220;alt&#8221; TikTok videos because they lack the dancing and lip-syncing, and the content is more &#8220;edgy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Deviance is a social construct created by mainstream TikTok users. It is a form of exclusion, and people who don&#8217;t conform to group norms are labeled &#8220;outsiders.&#8221; In addition to being outsiders, Straight TikTok users are often not even aware they belong to a social group. However, these users have ideas about what constitutes normality. Deviance is created from within the TikTok app, and users on both sides of the spectrum participate. This could lead to interesting new insights into the social dynamics of TikTok.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dangerous_content\"><\/span>Dangerous content<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A growing number of teen boys have been sucked into the algorithms of social media websites like TikTok, where videos of big, muscled men are viewed by millions of viewers. In response, many of these boys are developing a dangerous disorder called &#8220;bigorexia,&#8221; which refers to a mania for the body that is defined by size and muscle. It has been linked to celebrities such as The Rock and the Marvel universe of he-men.<\/p>\n<p>The company has also taken steps to prevent the spread of dangerous content on its platform. The website redirects users to videos of &#8220;challenges,&#8221; in which users film themselves doing a dangerous task and encourage others to do the same. Videos of dangerous challenges, such as blackout challenges, can cause death. The platform has removed videos of these challenges after reports of their objectionable content, but the issue remains. TikTok does not claim responsibility for these videos.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Censorship\"><\/span>Censorship<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Washington Post questioned whether censorship on TikTok has a role in the Hong Kong protests and reported that the #hongkong hashtag was featured in a number of humorous videos, but it was not in a video related to the protest. They questioned why so many popular protest hashtags weren&#8217;t covered on TikTok, pointing out that the hashtag #antielab was used by over 34,000 users on Instagram and was mentioned in only 11 videos on TikTok. Another popular hashtag, #Tiananmen Square, was covered in a dozen videos.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Chinese government&#8217;s statement does not mention TikTok specifically, implying that it&#8217;s looking at all forms of influence on the platform. After all, no one was surprised by the amount of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections, and only afterward did the US government discover it. Censorship on TikTok, on the other hand, could potentially be used to spread propaganda that is not conducive to healthy living.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Privacy_concerns\"><\/span>Privacy concerns<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are many privacy concerns about the new social media platform TikTok. The company recently updated its Privacy Policy to comply with stricter data protection laws in the European Union and the U.S. The new policy also includes corrections and additions, such as sections on e-commerce and Apple App Tracking Transparency. TikTok also states that it will not share information with the Chinese government. But these concerns have not gone away.<\/p>\n<p>The company has acknowledged these concerns in a post on their website. However, they have also begun a program known as Project Texas to close data channels. This program aims to limit data access from China and protect users&#8217; privacy. However, the issue of data access is still not completely solved. As of right now, users should consider all this before they use TikTok. The company is unsure if the new program will fully address the privacy concerns of their users.<\/p>\n<p> <iframe height=\"207\" width=\"370\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MGUNWpseSXQ\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"margin:0px auto; display: block;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? While the positive aspects of the app have made headlines, there&#8217;s a dark side. While the popularity of the video app has spurred new videos, some charities have warned that it can put young people at risk of falling victim to paedophiles. Other issues surrounding TikTok include censorship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[321],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v21.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? - Zeru<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? While the positive aspects of the app have made headlines, there&#8217;s a dark side. While the popularity of the video app has spurred new videos, some charities have warned that it can put young people at risk of falling victim to paedophiles. Other issues surrounding TikTok include censorship [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zeru\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-23T11:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-23T11:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Is-There-a-Dark-Side-of-TikTok_32230.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lizzie Yates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lizzie Yates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\",\"name\":\"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? - Zeru\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-23T11:19:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-23T11:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zeru\",\"description\":\"Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e\",\"name\":\"Lizzie Yates\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Lizzie Yates\"},\"description\":\"A content marketing strategist with the Zeru team for a little over 5 years, Lizzie Yates specializes in everything digital media with a particular focus on social media and technology. Her passion? To follow how the social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are maturing over time, and what businesses can do to keep up. She shares her insights on our blog in a true outpouring of knowledge and expertise. Her knowledge about technology and social media is vast, and she is always willing to share her insights with businesses to help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/author\/writer\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? - Zeru","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?","og_description":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? While the positive aspects of the app have made headlines, there&#8217;s a dark side. While the popularity of the video app has spurred new videos, some charities have warned that it can put young people at risk of falling victim to paedophiles. Other issues surrounding TikTok include censorship [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","og_site_name":"Zeru","article_published_time":"2022-07-23T11:19:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-23T11:20:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":740,"height":573,"url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Is-There-a-Dark-Side-of-TikTok_32230.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lizzie Yates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lizzie Yates","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok","name":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok? - Zeru","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-23T11:19:59+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-23T11:20:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/is-there-a-dark-side-of-tiktok#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is There a Dark Side of TikTok?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/","name":"Zeru","description":"Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61005d9ec00b94bc50fbaf11b78aa55e","name":"Lizzie Yates","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/19-150x150.jpg","caption":"Lizzie Yates"},"description":"A content marketing strategist with the Zeru team for a little over 5 years, Lizzie Yates specializes in everything digital media with a particular focus on social media and technology. Her passion? To follow how the social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are maturing over time, and what businesses can do to keep up. She shares her insights on our blog in a true outpouring of knowledge and expertise. Her knowledge about technology and social media is vast, and she is always willing to share her insights with businesses to help them stay up-to-date with the latest trends.","url":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/author\/writer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32234,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32230\/revisions\/32234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeru.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}