S5E1 - In TikTok We Trust?
Photo by Solen Feyissa
TikTok? Have you installed the world’s newest social media app? Your church youth group sure has. China, dancing cats, and Adam’s new obsession.
Can Christians trust TikTok? From tracking our data to censoring our posts, TikTok’s approach to the world is being scrutinized and criticized by many. Are these concerns over the video-sharing app justified or over-hyped? TikTok’s ties to China have other countries afraid of what the communist government might try to do. Is banning the social media platform the best option?
Chris and Adam dive deep into the controversies surrounding the app, its algorithm, and the company (and government) behind it.
The TikTok:
Just to be a little COVID safer we’re recording on Chris’s outdoor back porch this episode… and did you notice the rain noise at the beginning of the episode??
Links
If you only read one article from this list, it should probably be this one from The Atlantic. It’s long, but covers much the app’s history and current controversy. It critiques the flaws in banning the app and offers some constructive alternatives.
Here’s an account of how teens helped prank President Trump’s Tulsa rally in June.
TikTok documents show the company may have sought to suppress videos from people considered ugly or poor, or identified as disabled, The Intercept reported. Elsewhere, a user accused TikTok of censoring content critical of the Chinese government. The Guardian found similiar issues of censorship.
While TikTok’s record on human rights has faced scrutiny, others argue that banning TikTok is also a human rights issue. Still others call it outright hypocrisy.
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