TikTok is one of the popular apps at the moment. You have probably seen some of its videos on the different social networking and messaging apps that you use regularly. The app is very popular with young people thanks to its fun and viral videos.
With all the good things that come with TikTok, the company has not made the platform a neutral playing field for all users. According to the America publication, The Intercept, TikTok has been playing dirty by suppressing content from certain creators.
The Intercept notes that from the company’s leaked moderation policies for its staff, content posted by creators with “ugly facial looks” may have been pulled down. The case was the same for content from creators with deformed features including “lack of front teeth, senior people with too many wrinkles, obvious facial scars,” “chubby, have obvious beer belly, obese, or too thin.” This is quite sad in this day and age for any platform to do.
In addition to the looks, the policies also include unattractive shooting locations such as “slums” and “rural fields.” With this, TikTok was definitely discriminating against those who may not access fancy locations to shoot their videos. I don’t get why the company can do this as it does not necessarily affect the platform in any way.
The moderation policies affect the visibility of the posts and there is no complete ban on the affected users. The posts that moderators deem “Attractive” are seen by more people while the “unattractive” ones are seen by fewer people.
I seriously hope TikTok stops with this nonsense and make its platform better.
