CHINA’S GREATEST
WEAPON: TIKTOK PUSHES
SUICIDE VIDEOS ON 13-YEAR-OLDS
BY ALANA MASTRANGELO
21 MAR 2023
It only takes ten minutes after
creating an account on China’s
TikTok app for the platform’s
algorithm to begin pushing
suicide videos to 13-year-old children.
The Chinese app’s recommendation algorithm is so
advanced that within ten
minutes, it will start pushing
suicide videos if the young
TikTok user suggests he is
sexually frustrated, according to
research published Tuesday by
corporate accountability group
Ekö and shared with VICE News.
The researchers set up nine
different new TikTok accounts,
and listed their age as 13 the youngest age users can join the platform – then they mimicked
who they referred to as “incels”
Or “involuntary celibates, which is an online community of “young men who formed a bond around their lack of sexual success with women, according to VICE News.
Shou Zi Chew, chief executive
officer of TikTok Inc., during an
interview at the TikTok office in
New York, U.S., on Thursday,
Feb. 17, 2022.
Minutes later, the researchers
found that after viewing just ten
videos having to do with “incel”
related topics, the TikTok
accounts’ “For You” pages were
all filled with similar content.
One test account was shown a
video that featured a clip of Jake
Gyllenhaal whose films have
reportedly been popular among
the “incel community and in
the video, the actor was seen with a rifle in his mouth saying,
“Shoot me. Shoot me in the
fucking face.” The video also included text, which read, “Get shot or see her with someone else?” Additionally, the majority of the commenters were in support of the suggested suicide. Other
commenters lamented about
their loneliness, with many
saying they felt “dead inside.
One commenter even suggested
his own suicide within the next
four hours.
The Jake Gyllenhaal clip, which has since been deleted, had garnered over 440,000 likes, over 2.1 million views, 7,200
comments, and more than
11,000 shares. “Ten minutes and a few clicks on TikTok is all that is needed to fall into the rabbit hole of some of the darkest and most harmful content online, “Maen Hammad. Ekö campaigner and co-author of the research, told VICE News.
“The algorithm forces you into a spiral of depression, hopelessness, and self harm, and it’s terribly difficult to get out of that spiral once the algorithm thinks it knows what you want to see, Hammad added. “It’s extremely alarming to see how easy it is for children to fall into this spiral.”
TikTok, which has replaced
Instagram and Facebook as the
de facto social media platform
for teenagers in the United
States, is known for pushing
content harmful to children and
young adults – which in some
cases, even result in injury and
death. Earlier this month, the
University of Massachusetts had to warn its students about a new
drinking trend on TikTok, which
has resulted in 28 ambulances
being called to off-campus
parties in the area. The trend
involves students creating a
“blackout rage gallon” of alcohol.
flavoring, and other ingredients.
Earlier this year, a 12-year-old
girl in Argentina died after
participating in the deadly
“choking challenge” first
popularized on the Chinese app.
The girl’s death was even filmed
in a video call while her
classmates watched as she
attempted the deadly challenge. Last summer, a 14-year-old and a
12-year-old in the UK allegedly
died due to attempting the same
TikTok challenge.
Last September, the FDA warned
parents of a deadly new TikTok
challenge that involves children
cooking chicken in NyQuil,
“presumably to eat.”
Another TikTok challenge in
2020 involved urging users to
take large doses of the allergy
medication Benadryl
(diphenhydramine) to induce
hallucinations. The challenge
resulted in reports of teens being
rushed to the hospital, and in
some cases, dying.
This has to 🛑 !!!
China’s TikTok is evil, encouraging children as young as 13 years old to commit suicide through videos. While China continues to send the harmful ingredients to Mexican cartels to make Fentanyl and mix it in every drug killing 110,000 Americans.
