![]() On an interpersonal level, though, TikTok has far-reaching implications the extent of which we won’t fully understand for decades. This is transparently felt when Mark Zuckerberg, realising that Facebook wouldn’t ever be allowed to penetrate China’s Great Firewall, tries instead to chip away at TikTok’s domestic market share by any dirty means necessary.Īnd so, what may superficially appear to be a goofy app to post daft videos crowbars open a more widespread discussion about geopolitics, cybersecurity, digital biases, and the place of the algorithm in society. “Data is the new oil and China is the new Saudi Arabia,” we’re told at one point, and several of the subjects in Kantayya’s film persuasively suggest that TikTok is emblematic of China’s attempt to shift global power, economically and otherwise, effectively usurping America’s primacy on the global stage. ![]() Tiktok boom software#Despite its veneer of democratically-served content, the Chinese-created software uses its groundbreaking algorithm to read its users’ behaviours, gather data on them, and potentially even influence their future acts. Yet for most it is, inherently, an exercise in branding, where even seemingly “regular people” can be paid exorbitant sums to promote brands, or even end up with a Hollywood career.īut TikTok’s global influence only makes the elephant in the room that much more urgent to explore. These industriously committed young people demonstrate the greatness that can be achieved with TikTok and apps like it, whether to entertain or open the eyes of millions to injustice. There’s Afghan-American human rights activist Feroza Aziz, who uses the app to decry China’s internment of Uyghurs beatbox artist Spencer X, who thanks to TikTok has become a millionaire and political activist Deja Foxx, who parlayed her following into becoming the youngest staffer on Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. ![]() Kantayya frames her film around the testimonies of several likeable young subjects described as “digital natives” they’ve never known an existence without the Internet. The speed with which its popularity has spread and impacted all manner of cultures is basically unprecedented. With TikTok’s wider userbase and higher engagement rate than any other platform, silly lip-sync videos and political screeds alike can theoretically reach a global crowd within seconds. ![]() “On TikTok, anything can happen,” one of its users claims early on, and speaking as someone who hasn’t ever touched the app, it’s easy to appreciate the intoxicating appeal, especially for youngsters seduced by the democratising power – or implied power, at least – it gives them to reach an audience of billions. Kantayya’s multi-faceted exploration of its benevolent potential and decidedly less-democratic reality make for a well-rounded film that thoughtfully considers the platform’s contentious place in the global stage without solely singling it out. ![]() With TikTok crowned the world’s most downloaded app, these are the personal stories of a cultural phenomenon, told through an ensemble cast of Gen-Z natives, journalists, and experts alike.Ĭoded Bias director Shalini Kantayya’s follow-up doc challenges yet another window of our increasingly algorithm-controlled lives social media, and in particular the world’s most downloaded app, TikTok. ![]()
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