I used to have so much fun making cringey videos on MusicaI.ly. I remember the stupid slo-mos and ripple effects. It was a simpler time. That was until August of 2018, when Musical.ly became TikTok. There have been so many interesting phenomena that have come from the app. From the Renegade to the Hype House to the 2020 anime era. It really used to be just a dancing app. As the years went on, a fair share of haters emerged. I mean who didn’t hate on the multiple personalities of the Wonderland System or the My Hero Academia Shifters? The hating was never comparable to the cesspools that are Twitter and Instagram. That was until the glorious day. The day that TikTok went dark for all of America on January 18th, 2025. We all mourned and cried for the app we all loved only for it to be back the next day. TikTok’s return was essentially an online MAGA propaganda campaign.
While the app was down, it was clear that there were several changes made to TikTok. Not only has content gotten more political, but the moderation has gone to hell. The app has gotten extremely racist, misogynistic, evil, and downright dumb. This is mostly to blame on the new wave of TikTok commenters. I’ve seen people spew the most insane lies about the economy and policies. I’ve also seen creators who correct these lies get shadow-banned. Totally not biased to certain political views at all. Let's not forget about the “usual suspects” comment on a video that features one Black person. People in comments will defend black face or even the murder of a Black person. Even young Black people aren’t safe with the “YN” and “Ghetto prom” criticism. Other people of color have even joined in to make every situation the fault of Black people. I respect the comments that just outright call us slurs instead of hiding it. Speaking of those slurs, TikTok never seems to find a violation against them.
The hardest thing to avoid on TikTok is the conservative males and the women they’ve brainwashed. I saw a video of a woman being grabbed by a man while squatting. To my surprise, the first comment stated, “ How can you wear that to the gym and expect to not get attention”. I’m tired of all the unfunny “bop” and “huzz” jokes. Some are just straight-up fantasies about sexually assaulting anything with a pulse (sometimes they don’t care about the pulse). Let alone the comments only speaking about male issues when a woman decides to vent. That’s without all the red pill rhetoric about how women are essentially sex slaves who should pay half the bills. Although I expect things like this from males, women have started hating like men. I’ve seen so many women in the comments talking like they’re the Holy Virgin Mary. I remember seeing a video of a girl asking what outfit she would wear to her tennis party. The comments ripped her to shreds about her hair, body shape, style, and Blackness. These insecure, miserable women even created every sort of “blindness” to critique every aspect of a person’s appearance.
TikTok also likes to silence viewpoints it doesn’t like. I once made a comment saying, “Why don’t ppl start k i l l ing grapist??? It’s easier to defend yourself in court for self-defense instead of grape honestly”. This was in response to a news video of a man being convicted of rape, and let go because he had “bright future.” My comment was removed within 10 minutes for violating community guidelines. It’s funny how they can joke about it, but we can’t denounce it. TikTok has just become a vile space to interact with. I used to go straight to the comments to get a laugh or find similar viewpoints. Now, everyone is so judgmental and heartless. TikTok commenters have caused our population to be devoid of empathy and consequences. People can spew hate from anywhere in the world. It’s easy to say what you want behind a screen. Even though my article is opposing hate, I hate these people. They’re irritating and they suck.
