Is TikTok doing more harm than good?

Almost every Nepali has swiped through the videos on TikTok at least once. The videos are short and do not need a lot of your patience. TikTok has also become a good place to promote businesses as well as one’s own talent. Most content creators want to go viral and make money out of the views they receive. But several TikTok users ApEx spoke to say that the platform is being misused at the same time, especially when it comes to Nepali contents.

“People make videos just for the views, and most of them are downright disgusting,” says Pooja Subedi, a 29-year-old from Dhapasi, Kathmandu. One of the most disturbing aspects of Nepali content on TikTok, she says, is parents using their children to get more views. A few months back, Subedi came across a video where a mother filmed her daughter not older than six years on a song called ‘Anaconda’ by Nicki Minaj, which explicitly sexulizes women’s bodies. “What was the purpose of that video?” questions Subedi. The mother in question later apologized for posting the video, but did not take it down since the video had gone viral. 

Individuals ApEx spoke to have come across numerous videos where adults are filming their children for no apparent reason other than to attract viewers’ attention, no matter what the consequences. There is one video of a child crying for not knowing the answers to his/her homework, calling it cute and adorable.
“I don’t think a child crying is something that needs to be publicized,” says Asmita KC, a 29-year-old living in Hattigauda, Kathmandu. “Imagine how traumatic it’ll be for the child when he/she gets recognized just for crying on a video that his/her parents decided to post.”

Several videos don’t take people’s privacy into consideration either. People start filming videos everywhere, without thinking about timing or location. Sweksha Karna, a 22-year-old currently studying in Australia, says she came across a dance video of a woman who was filmed in Basantapur, Kathmandu, which she thought was quite inappropriate. “There was a blood donation program going on in the background. Those people did not ask to be on the video,” she says. 

Not just that, but many restaurants, in the name of promoting their business, film their customers without asking. Videos are being taken without permission, hurting the sentiments of several people involved. The same happened to the parent’s of Monika Thakuri, a TikToker who died by suicide. Her father was filmed crying at the hospital bed after his daughter’s death. The video went viral. No one wants to relive moments like that, but now it’s all over TikTok.

Also, people frequently spread misleading information just for the sake of views. For instance, if there is an accident or a fire, users post videos with a different audio from some other accidents to raise concerns among people. It creates confusion and panic when the situation might not even be serious. “I have also seen videos where people film their neighbors and add a different audio, misleading viewers into questioning if it’s domestic violence,” says KC. 

Everything that happens on TikTok comes down to the number of views and likes. The more engagement they have, the more money they make. Good contents don’t get views while the problematic ones go viral

Rekha Shah, a 40-year-old woman who runs a cosmetics store in Shankhamul, Kathmandu, feels that TikTok has made people quite inhumane. Wherever someone sees an individual suffering, she believes that their first instinct is to film the victim rather than help them out. “People are after increasing the number of viewers and likes out of someone else’s misery. I find that quite scary,” she says. 

People are going above and beyond to increase engagement in their contents. “I have seen vidoes where people stand on the edge of a cliff, pretending to commit suicide, just to match a song’s lyrics,” Shah says. “It’s promoting unhealthy behavior. I find that scary since people and children on TikTok try copying that.”

Sexual and derogatory comments circulating throughout TikTok is another huge problem. Many content creators are being harassed every day, and people are starting to normalize those activities. Meena Uprety, sociologist, says that most individuals on TikTok are the ones who enjoy negativity. “They like to argue or bring someone down through comments or videos,” she says. 

Shristi Prasain, a 36-year-old shopkeeper from Bhaktapur, says she faced the same scrutiny once when her video accidentally went viral. It was a video of her and her husband in a swimming pool. “It was supposed to be a romantic moment, but people turned it into a disgusting one,” she says. It made her quite conscious on what to post and what not to. “I was disturbed after reading the comments for several days. People chose to harass me just because my husband held my hand in the video,” she says.

These types of comments are also seen on videos posted by minors. Since the platform is not properly regulated, several individuals below the age of 18 have gone viral, exposing them to sexual harassment, including inappropriate text messages from strangers. 

“My 10-year-old daughter sometimes says she wants to post videos and go viral too. I don’t allow that but she’s quite influenced by the videos she sees online,” says Shah. She is worried that her daughter might have to face the same kind of harassment if exposed to the platform. 

“Parents are also quite ignorant on what their children are doing. Some are even promoting this type of attention their child is receiving,” says Subedi, recalling the mother-daughter duo (Sumitra Bartaula and Bibika Bartaula) who live on TikTok all the time. 

The mother frequently asks her daughter to talk to strangers, as well as sexualize the daughter. People start defending the duo if anyone points out that it’s wrong. “The mother sometimes says statements like ‘Give that uncle a kiss’ on live videos to her daughter, and frankly, I find that quite disgusting,” says Subedi.

Without proper monitoring of the online contents, sociologist Uprety believes that TikTok will do no good. The first priority would be to filter the contents and place strict regulations on what can or can’t be posted/commented on every social media platform, which should be looked over by respective agencies like cybercrime bureau. “But if this continues, we will have no choice but to ban TikTok,” she says. 

Sexual and derogatory comments circulating throughout TikTok is another huge problem. Many content creators are being harassed every day, and people are starting to normalize those activities

SP Pashupati Kumar Ray, spokesperson for the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police, says that it’s not the responsibility of the bureau to monitor any social media app. 

“In case someone is harassed online, one can go through the district court and file a case for violating the Criminal (Code) Act, 2017. Only then can the bureau step in to take down the contents that are problematic, and file a case against the individual involved,” says Ray.

Advocate Santosh Sigdel, founder and executive director of Digital Rights Nepal, an organization working to protect and promote digital rights, says that the problem is on the mindset of content creators/users, rather than the platform itself. 

“I think society is also equally responsible for making the platform safe for everyone,” he says. “The authorities as well as TikTok should also closely monitor if the contents and comments posted are following TikTok’s guidelines.” 

According to him, banning the platform isn’t the solution since the same people will end up in some other online platform. 

Everything that happens on TikTok comes down to the number of views and likes. The more engagement they have, the more money they make. Good contents don’t get views while the problematic ones go viral. 

“It’s bringing the worst out of everyone and people have no decency,” says Prasain. The platform lacks regulation, and is spreading hatred, violence, and is normalizing verbal and sexual harassment. Majority of individuals ApEx spoke to say that they would rather prefer TikTok to be banned, since it’s doing more harm than good