TikTok Causing Cultural Degeneration? [Latest Controversy]

TikTok Causing Cultural Degeneration

Ever since the modern day trending application “TikTok” – short video sharing social media platform – has been launched in India, it has been an instrument of celebration among the youth and an instrument of controversy and doubts among the older population of the country, sparing not even the members of the government itself, both state and centre.

There have been repeated calls for ban on this Chinese app for reasons ranging from children using it and older teens getting addicted to it and neglecting other important work including their studies. Access to inappropriate content not suitable for their age is another major concern among it’s critics.

Joining those critics is the Tamil Nadu MLA, Thameemun Ansari who pleaded to the State Minister for IT, M Manikandan to take steps to ban the app altogether on grounds that there was “unfettered spread of sexually explicit content and morphing of innocent people’s faces, especially women, through the app” i.e. TikTok causing cultural degeneration throughout the country.

Manikandan in reply to the strong worded plea said that necessary actions would be taken by the Tamil Nadu government to take the issue up with the Centre itself.

This is not the first time either that such calls have been made. “TikTok causing cultural degeneration” has been a subtle subtext of almost all complaints made by the rightist people.

TikTok results in Shocking Incidents

While there are rightful objections to this generalization, there have been far too many incidents as well where while making these videos, the younger teens have taken unnecessary excessive steps (like hanging from the trains, doing dangerous stunts, etc) which have led to serious injuries and even deaths.

Criminals have also been using the app to use the images from the videos – especially of women – and using them in adult content through software which is leading to defamation and bringing a question into their as well as their family’s reputation.

This also makes stalking of women easier and may lead to other incidents.

Despite efforts being taken to curb this wrongful usage of the app by various authorities (like a TikTok account being unable to be made by children less than twelve years of age, etc), there have always been workarounds about these issues and many feel that accordingly, harder steps need to be taken to tackle this issue in the near future, if we are to prevent this from spiralling out of control.

Such is the internet age and it’s high time that we get caught up with the reality of it all while still upholding the people’s right to freedom. It’s a tricky balance but one that needs to be found as soon as possible.