Rafael Montes Barrera, 1/24 Week 10 - The Power of Addiction: TikTok's Ban Leads to User Hysteria

One of the many "verification" videos made by TikTok users for Red Note via nmillz1

Tiktok is a platform that deserves no introduction—chances are, you’ve already lost several hours to it. This is the reality for consistent users on TikTok. From fast fashion to never-ending memes, the app covers what feels like everything. However, everything TikTok has changed within the last few weeks. After months of discussion at the Supreme Court, TikTok was banned on the nineteenth of January for ~14 hours under concerns of invasive data collection from Bytedance. Leading up to the ban, its users expressed strong opposition and even concerning responses in some cases. Many have turned to learning Chinese and using Red Note as a means of alternative. This naturally leads non-users to wonder: why did users go to such lengths?

Refreshing on its rebirth, TikTok was originally named Music.aly. It was launched in April of 2014 and primarily consisted of lip-syncing short videos. The platform was purchased by Bytedance on November tenth of 2017 for around $1 Billion USD. Since then, the platform was rebranded to TikTok and is now worth well over $100 Billion. At the time, the platform stood out for its short-form content style-featuring minute long videos that when compared to long-form content, generated more views and likes due to the ease of watchability. This style of short-form content was introduced through Vine, a now discontinued platform that was popular in the 2010s for its comedic content similar to TikTok. The discontinuation of Vine allowed for a vacuum of short-form content that TikTok filled in 2016 before other platforms. However, this same watchability can be harmful when paired with the app’s infinite-scroll feature.

TikTok’s layout was specifically engineered to promote and enhance its short-form content. This is highlighted through the endless amounts of videos generated through TikTok’s personalized algorithm. TikTok’s watchability and infinite-scroll establish a symbiotic relationship that is engineered to hook viewers and to keep viewers watching. This makes it particularly addictive among young users. TikTok was shown to produce symptoms like “poor sleep quality” and “social anxiety” as discussed by the New Dimension Day Treatment Center. The amount of tailored videos often results in users spending substantial amounts of time on the app, leading to larger problems like decreased productivity and reduced attention spans due to TikTok’s digestible content. Additionally, the “for you page” feature allows for every short to be recommended based on user preference or interest. Like TikTok as a whole, this feature is a double-edged sword when it comes to providing unbiased information that strengthens research rather than its current model that indirectly reinforces user sentiment or beliefs in order to simply create the best binge-watching experience. However, everything wrong with the app’s effect on users was about to be revealed.

Even years before its ban, TikTok was under suspicion of invasive data collection. Just a year after its launch, the platform received a civil lawsuit from the FTC under the allegation that TikTok had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act pointed out by the Federal Trade Commision. In February of 2021, TikTok again settled for $92 Million in a class-action lawsuit covered by Freed Kanner London & Millen that alleged TikTok had harmfully collected user “biometric information and private data” Today, the company is worth well over $100 billion-nothing short of a profitable investment from the far cry that Music.aly was acquired for. TikTok wasn’t just suddenly suspected but only seen by the Supreme Court after continuous legal bouts and as it grew.

Leading up to the ban, user sentiment logically began to grow negative. A common trend among users was “goodbye videos” or videos that generally reflected on the app’s lifetime, influencer viewerbases, and what friendships or audience connection had been created along the way. This falls into some of the positives of TikTok but still takes part in a double-edged relationship that is both positive and negative. It  is important to understand genuine support or informative content is available on the platform—adding to the importance of knowing there is both good and bad to TikTok. Another side-effect outside of user sentiment is income. TikTok’s watchability allowed for influencers and businesses to grow tenfold what they would have using traditional means of marketing. If permanent, the ban would have affected several influencers and businesses by losing this means of marketing.

Interestingly, many active on TikTok decided to post additional “introduction videos” to Red Note In Mandarin. These videos feature users following pre-written speeches introducing themselves and their interest in joining Red Note and the rest of Red Note’s primarily Chinese users under the coined term of ““TikTok refugees”” according to CNN. 

Given time off of the app during the short ban, some like Jaya Sigurdson, author at The Queen's Journal report that they started to actively consider the decline of stress or shortened attention spans from the app. Others however, proved to crave the same content: seeking out alternative platforms, following their favorite creators elsewhere and even using VPNs to find loopholes in app policy. This temporary dethroning overall raises fundamental questions concerning consumption, self-control, and the necessary need for mindful social media usage as more and more generations become technologically fluent.