TikTok

What is TikTok? TikTok is a video-sharing application that allows users to create and share short-form videos on any topic (Geyser, 2022). There are roughly around 800 million active users that come from different parts of the world. Originally created back in 2017, the platform grew its popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when the majority of the world was kept indoors. A big portion of the users are some age under 25. 

The definition of ethics can consist of rules of behavior or moral principles that guide our actions in given situations (Baran, 2017). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this platform has become so popular and addicting that users have started to wonder how and why the videos that are popping up on their 'For You' page are exacting what they want to watch. Some users became skeptical that perhaps the platform was using their search history from other applications to show the users what exactly they wanted to see. One user, explains how she would spend 30 minutes scrolling, trying to keep her mind busy from everything that's going on in the world. She explains that she realized that the TikTok algorithm created a perfect series of videos that would keep her watching. Little did the platform know that she was planning a trip overseas and 'magically', TikTok was showing her videos about other users eating at the best restaurants in Paris. "Echo chambers, which reinforce people's existing beliefs, can be problematic because it shields 'users from access to various perspectives and might induce biases and limit public debate" (Gillies, 2022). These chambers were found to be harmful to individuals who have different beliefs and were found to be unethical for how the application was intended to be. Many users found this to be true and started to ask questions as to why certain individuals were seeing one series of videos while other individuals from a different demographic, for example, were seeing a different series of videos. 

The definition of advertising could be described as " any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor" (American Marketing Association, n.d). If you are a TikTok user, you have more than likely come across an advertisement during your scrolling session. Sometimes, they come across as a paid advertisement from the TikTok company but many times, it's an influencer being paid by a company to advertise their product. Back in February of 2022, there was a craze of users on the platform trying to purchase a product that an influencer was promoting. The product shouldn't have been promoted since the product is a drug to help type two diabetics.  Users of the drug claim that it reduces their food cravings and allows them to forget they were hungry in the first place.  "When, in May, reality TV star Kim Kardashian told Vogue magazine she had lost 16lbs in three weeks so she would be thin enough to fit into a dress that once belonged to Marilyn Monroe, rumors began to circulate that she had used semaglutide" (Calman & Simmons, 2022).  

Another way users can be influenced by TikTok is by podcasts. One podcast in particular is dedicated to all things TikTok and the products this specific podcast spokesperson talks about is all from them scrolling on TikTok.  Rachel Chapman is the host of I Need to Talk TikTok.  In one episode, she explains to her audience that she saw someone on TikTok using a back stretcher and it cracked their back.  She decided to purchase one for herself to see if it would actually work, and she commented during the episode that it worked well. 

The definition of media bias can refer to the media exhibiting unjustifiable favoritism as they cover the news (Kaid & Hotlz-Bacha, n.d).  Some people when they think of TikTok, they think of TikTok stars. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a group of TikTok stars that bought a house together and essentially, got more famous being in a house together. Ultimately, the stars got their own show that aired on Netflix. The show called The Hype House (TV Series) got mostly negative reviews and "sent the wrong message to viewers".  Pictured above is the poster for the TV show that aired on Netflix (IMDb, 2022). Many of the viewers who wanted to watch the show all began to like the members of the group on TikTok when they started to become famous. The viewers coming from TikTok had an exception that it was going to be like watching them on TikTok but in reality, it was nothing like it. Along with the story mentioned in the ethics section, having videos only target individuals who have specific beliefs seems to be unjustifiable to some.