The impact of the social media app TikTok is explored in TikTok, Boom. Developed by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok has become the social media app that has resonated the most with Gen-Z. Comprised of high quality vertical video content and a complex algorithm, it is incredibly easy for someone to go viral on the app. However, TikTok also brings with it concerns about censorship and national security.
TikTok, Boom is a documentary by Shalini Kantayya (Coded Bias) that looks into the monumental rise of the TikTok social media app, following a number of content creators including Afghan-American activist Feroza Aziz, beatboxer Spencer X, and Gen Z Girl Gang founder Deja Foxx. Despite TikTok’s popularity, there are concerns surrounding the app’s Chinese ownership, with highly political posts often being removed or ”shadow banned.” Then of course, there was the infamous moment Donald Trump threatened to ban the app in America, due to fears it shared data with the Chinese government.
As an early millennial, who remembers a time before technology ruled our lives, TikTok is an app that I have used for fun, but never quite grasped the full impact of. If anything, TikTok, Boom shows how big the social media platform truly is, with a post able to go viral in a single day. However, the film also delves the less than positive moments of TikTok, whether it be the National Security concerns or the somewhat creepy fact that the app has been used as out outlet for sexual predators, making duet posts with the app’s very young user-base. While TikTok, Boom can be seen as a social media cautionary tale, it also serves show how how, for better or worse, TikTok has become one of the most impactful of all social media platforms.