As Tik Tok trends come and go, one trend remains popular, politics. Politics is the most polarizing topic imaginable, and for some reason, Tik Tok viewers eat it up. Some of Tik Toks, or should I say political Tik Tok’s favorite topics to discuss, are Black Lives Matter, last year’s presidential election, and the vaccine. Creators get views solely from talking about these topics, and the more they push the boundaries, the more ideas roll in. One of the scariest things about this is that these creators spew their own opinion as facts. Fact-checking seems very rare amongst these creators. Having untrustworthy sources saying their idea as facts are extremely dangerous because people will believe anything. Tik Tok has an estimated 80 million viewers in the U.S alone, with a good chunk of these viewers being under 18, the consequences of misinformation being spread are endless.

Another issue that goes hand-in-hand with the misinformation being spread is fear-mongering. Fear-mongering is the act of intentionally stirring up fear in people to get your point across. This is one of political Tik Tok’s favorite gimmicks; creators do this in many ways. Getting your point across is most accessible when people feel something and especially when that something is fear.

They have an opinion about politics at such a young age as some avid Tik Tok viewers. Being that young people tend to be a bit immature, with immaturity comes hate comments. Political Tik Tok is toxic in many ways, and the fear-mongering and the spread of misinformation are just the tips of the iceberg. Hate comments come in floods under these videos; people are told to kill themselves, their appearance is made fun of, and sometimes even mass reported, so their account gets banned. All sides of this genre have in common that hate comments come from every angle all the time.

One of the better things about political Tik Tok is that it gives everyone a space to express their opinion and maybe even find others who share the same idea. This is also a bad thing because there are still racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic people out there looking for a place to spread their word of hate. There’s only so much that Tik Tok itself can do about these hateful creators and commentators. Once a video or comment is uploaded to the internet, it stays there forever; therefore, Tik Tok can do not remove these videos.

Tik Tok is a place of abnormal content, and political Tik Tok is no exception. I believe that if you just fact check before you think something you see anywhere, not just Tik Tok, recognize when you have come across someone who is using a fear-mongering technique, and report all content that comes across as hateful. We will survive the rise of political Tik Tok.

This story is from the Oct. 2021 issue of The East Vision.