A Child Is Abused Every Four Hours In India. Banning TikTok Won't Fix That.
Panic over child sexual abuse online has led to TikTok being banned. But disturbing videos of children are still available on the app.
- The problematic videos that remain on the app despite the purge of offensive material can be found by using hashtags like "#cutebabies" (which returns almost 700 million videos), "#desikids," "#cuteIndianbabies," or by simply following the algorithm of trending hashtags.
- In almost every phone conversation that BuzzFeed News had with TikTok's content creators ahead of the ban, its PR company, Allison+Partners, insisted on vetting questions beforehand and being present on the call.
- Sumedhas Rajgopal, TikTok's entertainment and strategy lead in India, told BuzzFeed News that for now, it was "business as usual," with celebrities and regular app users uploading new videos every minute despite the ban.
- When you open the app, your phone's entire screen displays a seemingly endless scroll of scenes - weird, earworm-y and mesmerizing videos - of people lip-synching, miming, dancing, or performing scenes from movies.
- Despite India's unemployment crisis , optimistic, Bollywood-obsessed young people still believe in the dream that, with enough talent and determination, with the right audition or dance moves, anyone can beat the odds.
- "There is a complete disconnect between the way the government, police officers, and courts think about the internet and the way young Indians use it," she said.