By now most of you would have read, heard and discussed a lot about Tik-Tok Vs YouTube controversy, you also know about the video by Carry that was pulled down by YouTube, so there is no point in writing about that, however I want to discuss the response or solution that we have come up with and it’s about trying to get Tik-Tok banned. This response is what I want to discuss.
As always the views expressed in the literature to follow are my very public personal opinions and if you are offended by lack of political correctness and are prone to getting offended, good for you.
Would banning Tik-Tok stop the spread of hatred? Simple answer is NO. I will give you an example, imagine a cancer patient with cancer in lungs and the patient coughs violently, sometimes there is blood AND the doctor keeps increasing the dose of cough syrup, would that cure the cancer? You see banning a social media platform is not a solution since there are 100s of similar platforms and more get added everyday, so banning will not help at all.
The solution lies in tackling the root cause of the problem, the User. These Tik-Tok “celebrities” think of themselves as “content” creators (I’m sure in their head content has a different meaning), most of these “influencers” are from 14-21 age group. The times have changed and these people want the attention that comes with social media fame, since it’s a shortcut to success so they desperately try to get in the spot light and there is no better way to garner spotlight than by creating controversy. I’m sure most of you remember that there was a time when a Bollywood actress went on social media platform and announced to striptease if a particular sports team won a particular series, she got the attention of the nation however the attention gathered by controversy is short lived and to stay relevant one had to continue to create controversy and every time increase the level of sleaze, she currently has her app with numerous raunchy videos and she is out of public eyes. The point is that once these attention hungry literate but uneducated idiots get a taste of spotlight they want more, it’s kind of fix and like a junkie they need more.
In my opinion the root of the problem is that these people don’t have any idea about the reality and repercussions of their actions and it’s long term effect since in current times, with mobile devices in their hands and world within their reach via internet, they think that they know the path of fame and finally money. None of these social media personalities are in the game for free, 99% of social media personalities make money via social media either directly or indirectly. Creating wealth is not wrong it’s everyone’s right, how it’s being created that’s what counts.
I think regulation of social media will run into fundamental rights problems, like freedom of speech and expression. Instead we need to educate the public to make right choices, since we all too have become junkies who craves the thrill of controversy for its fix so that is bust too. Maybe if parents and guardians communicate more with these young minds and understand why and what these kids are looking for on social media maybe we have a chance otherwise we will keep hearing about banning one social media platform or the other.
I have seen too many videos and clips on Tik-Tok and similar platforms which are too controversial to be on any kind of platform BUT the performers are all adults so they knew what they were doing. These “influencers” will have to be made responsible for not only their content but also it’s repercussions which comes due to their influence on their followers.
