• Ryick@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    9 hours ago

    You can replace TikTok with any social media platform. That’s why this argument is illogical in that it blames TikTok.

    • paraphrand@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      9 hours ago

      I don’t remember Friendster causing mayhem like this.

      Lemmy seems to not be spreading challenges either.

      You have a point, but TikTok has a unique power in this moment.

      And if the students did see it on TikTok, then it’s factual, specific, reporting.

      TikTok is at the forefront of designing algorithms that optimize for this sort of situation. Reddit isn’t. YouTube does not appear to be. They have their own issues, but it’s not exactly this sort of optimization.

      VRChat is another social network not optimized around incentivizing this mimicking and reposting behavior.

      Snapchat is not built around this sort of algorithm either.

      • Ryick@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        8 hours ago

        If it had happened on Friendster; then it would have been because of the specific user(s) creating and posting such content, not because of the platform. To say platform = bad because a user or users post negatively affecting content is a sweeping generalization which does not reflect reality, meaning that the negative connotation of TikTok = bad is still incorrect. The users which created and posted such content, in this case, are to blame.

        If students see such content on social media; then the first thought should not be: platform bad; it should be: who posted it, and for what reason(s).

        • TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          8 hours ago

          It can be an issue with the people starting these challenges while also being an issue with the way tiktok works with sharing these copycat videos on the platforms algorithm.

          I don’t think “omg tiktok bad” but in the case of these dumb challenges, it is one of the few things I can see people actually pointing at when saying tiktok is bad, rather than “but china.”

          • Ryick@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            8 hours ago

            it is one of the few things I can see people actually pointing at when saying TikTok is bad

            Yes, and this article reinforces that idea, regardless of whether or not TikTok = bad is correct, which is my point.