5 Crazy Conspiracy Theories about TikTok

We all know the wildly popular app, TikTok, and many of us use and love the app on a day to day basis. But there are some others out there that have their own thoughts & opinions about the app, and they’re not so lovey-dovey. Here’s 5 of the craziest conspiracy theories about TikTok that may get your brain thinking.

#5 - TikTok is promoting cyberbullying.

Unlike other apps, TikTok actually allows anyone with any sort of digital intelligence to make a filter on their app. And while a pretty makeup filter or a cute freckle filter doesn’t seem to be damaging from the surface, many think it’s doing more harm than good. These filters completely alter your face, while still looking scarily realistic. Many have spoken out in saying that these filters aren’t beneficial and are promoting insecurity among others.

#4 - TikTok is swiping your card for you.

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve definitely seen a handful of those “TikTok Made Me Buy It” videos, and maybe you’ve even said it yourself. Some think that that phrase is now very literal. Many believe that China (where the owning company of TikTok is from) uses its users' data from all over the world and sells them to Chinese companies, which then target market us with products we don’t actually need, but think we do. Therefore making us spend our money, which most of us so desperately need in these times.

#3 - China is creating dangerous trends to make you weak.

Do you remember the planking challenge? The Kiki Dance Challenge? The Tide Pod Challenge? All of these seemingly “safe” challenges (excluding the tide pods) were taken to dangerous extremes a lot of the time and conspiracy theorists seem to think this is China’s doing. They think that China is feeding harmless videos to us, like someone innocently planking or dancing outside of a parked car, knowing that someone out there will want to try and “one up” the original and then eventually it just snowballs until it gets dangerous.

#2 - TikTok is setting our future generation up for failure.

Many people have made a name for themselves on the app and many of those people have actually made a living from the app. And it’s not surprising that a lot of young kids are on this app and look up to these “TikTokers”. However, some have taken it even a step further and are saying that TikTok has done this intentionally, so our future generations do not thrive and live off of the idea that they’re all going to be “influencers” one day.

#1 - China controls what you see.

This is number one because it could potentially be true. As mentioned before, TikTok is owned by a very high up Chinese company (they’re basically China’s Facebook) and they control everything that’s on the app. It’s actually been proven by others on social media that Chinese TikTok and American TikTok are actually two completely different apps. The TikTok that we all know & love are funny sounds, cute animals, emotional stories, sub-par dancing and a lot of other nonsense.. and we LOVE it. On average, American users spend about 24 hours per month on the app. That’s a whole day, gone, and did we truly learn anything in those 24 hours? Probably not besides a new dance or trend. That’s actually the companies doing. They’re filtering nonsense content to our brains over educational content. But, if you somehow crack yourself onto the Chinese version of TikTok (which many have), you’ll soon see that it’s a whole different ballpark. While yes, Chinese TikTok does have its fair share of fun videos, a majority of the videos are actually very educational and informative. Again, this is the company's doing. They’re feeding education to their country while spilling garbage into ours. But, for obvious reasons, TikTok has not confirmed this themselves so this still remains a conspiracy.