Last week my family’s group chat exploded. Walking out of class to a jarring 37 text notifications, my heart dropped as I expected to find out about some sort of medical emergency or that I had forgotten an important birthday. My eyes widened when I scrolled to find the TikTok link that started the frenzy: Elon Musk buying the Green Bay Packers?
It took one Google search to discover that this was, in fact fake, news, which immediately put my dad at ease. The problem here, though, lies not in whether or not Musk was buying the football team, but in my family’s gullibility and the conditions that have made it almost impossible for the average social media user to decipher what is real or fake.Â
TikTok, the short form video platform that was released in 2016, has skyrocketed in popularity since the pandemic. While it started as an app primarily for younger demographics to participate in silly trends or lip sync to their favorite songs, it has blossomed into a virtual metropolis where every generation can find its place. My mom sends me her favorite clips of Taylor Swift from the Chiefs games, my brother stays up until two a.m. scrolling through NHL highlights, and I have even caught my grandpa on the app enamored by a friendship between a puppy and a baby deer. Â
Parallel to the rise of TikTok, live television viewership has been on the decline. More and more people are finding not only their entertainment but also their news on the app. Although the increased accessibility to international events and connection to people throughout the world is undoubtedly positive, the ability to push content out to a global audience with little to no fact-checking has become unproductive and even dangerous.Â
The fake news epidemic is real, especially with the prevalence of artificial intelligence. Scrolling through TikTok, one could come across AI-generated images of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin sharing ice cream cones or videos of Barack Obama professing his love for Harry Styles. In most cases, people posting this unreal content are doing it with positive intentions: to make people laugh. Regardless of intent, altering reality in a way that can be digested and dispersed amongst the public is truly frightening.
Fear-mongering and polarization have also taken a dramatic upturn through the app. For example, at the height of the Los Angeles wildfires, some creators took to TikTok to “warn” their followers of an incoming surge of violent crime that they needed to be on the lookout for. Whether or not these claims were valid, most of the videos being posted were not backed up by any credible sources beyond the creators’ own judgment. During election season, TikToks describing the dystopian world America would become depending on which candidate ended up victorious flooded the For You Page. With every world event, the app becomes oversaturated with content relaying contrasting messages and leaving viewers confused as to what to believe. Monetization as a motivator has unsurprisingly compelled influencers to make videos with as much shock value as possible while having little foresight or care for the potential impacts on viewers and society as a whole. Seemingly, the platform created to bring people together and provide a way to unwind has produced the opposite effect– increasing anxiety and division.Â
The future of TikTok and the solution to ending misinformation is unclear. This past week, the app was banned for about 14 hours based on alleged threats to national security before President Trump signed an executive order pausing the ban for 75 days. Some interpreted this move not as one of genuine concern for the country’s security but as a publicity stunt to garner support for the incoming President or even potentially to alter the algorithm while the app was down. In terms of combating misinformation, that turns into a First Amendment issue that has become hotly debated in the internet era.Â
While TikTok has certainly contributed to an atmosphere of hostility, it also remains a fun place to share uplifting and silly content that allows us to take a break from the chaos of our daily lives. The answer is not to do away with the app or to censor creators, but instead to instill a sense of knowledge and responsibility in all social media users to think critically about what appears on their screens. The advice that has been drilled into our minds since the dawn of the age of the internet, although redundant, remains true: don’t believe everything you see. At least for the next 75 days, TikTok will remain a facet of American society, so it is imperative that we learn how to separate fact and fiction on the app.Â