Bonum Certa Men Certa

TikTok Still Encouraging and Rewarding Deadly Behaviour, But Beware the Straw Men



FACT FOCUS: A Story About a Deadly TikTok Boat-Jumping Challenge Went Viral. Then It Fell Apart
Just because it's false doesn't mean TikTok never promotes harming oneself and one's surroundings.



Summary: The media continues to shill or promote TikTok; the problem is, some of the criticisms are phony and this serves to distract from what TikTok truly is

THE weekly articles about TikTok focus on some of the things that aren't in Daily Links but still merit a mention. Social control media is, in general, a bad thing. Linus Torvalds called it a "disease" about a decade ago and his remarked aged fairly well (albeit he too had used Google+ until the platform died).

There are already reports that the "FOMO" effect at Facebook's 'Twitter killer' is dying down. Facebook's founder said it best; don't be his "dumb fucks"...

"More than enough harm has been done already; those platforms aren't tools for activism but for "herding" populations in a top-down fashion."But what about TikTok? This platform is exceptionally bad for reasons that we covered before. Its more political aspects are explored in [1-2], the "useful idiots" are noted in [3-4] (guess who funds this lawsuit), TikTok still promotes harm [5-7] and worse are the straw men (misinformation [8-9]), which 'addicts' are still in denial about [10], with some attempting to copy/replicate [11] this "success".

The problem isn't misinformation about TikTok but misinformation being promoted and spread widely by TikTok. And sure, TikTok isn't alone in doing that. But what makes TikTok unique isn't its nationality but the controlling entity, ByteDance.

Society ought to collectively reject such platforms (bans and boycotts can become obsolete if people just choose anything else). More than enough harm has been done already; those platforms aren't tools for activism but for "herding" populations in a top-down fashion. They lessen society's ability to think freely and organise.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. 2023-07-14 From TikTok to Taking on the CIA: The Resurgence of Cutting Political Comedy with James Rehwald


  2. 2023-07-13 Influencer Arrested Over TikTok Video Satirizing Wealthy Emiratis in Dubai Shows Limits on Freedoms


  3. 2023-07-13 New Lawsuit Claims Texas TikTok Ban Violates First Amendment
  4. 2023-07-13 University professors in Texas are suing the state over ‘unconstitutional’ TikTok ban


  5. 2023-07-13 Doctor Who Livestreamed Surgeries on TikTok Has License Yanked, Thank God


  6. 2023-07-12 Plastic Surgeon Who Livestreamed Procedures on TikTok Banned From Practicing Medicine in Ohio
  7. 2023-07-13 Soldiers torture shepherds in Diyarbakır, share video on TikTok


  8. 2023-07-12 FACT FOCUS: A Story About a Deadly TikTok Boat-Jumping Challenge Went Viral. Then It Fell Apart
  9. 2023-07-11 Fans roast Kylie Jenner for using TikTok’s viral aging filter: ‘You can afford to fix it’


  10. 2023-07-10 People who don't use TikTok think it's a national security threat
  11. 2023-07-10 Tumblr's building a TikTok inspired feed in bid to grow its user base


Recent Techrights' Posts

In Techrights, Gemini and HTTP/HTML Are Very Different
Those were never equivalents or mirrors, those are two things that are inherently different and are maintained by different teams
"The War on Children" Explained by The Cyber Show
Consumer protection and the war on children
 
Improving the Static Site Generator
Our system has fixes triaged
Diversity in Debian
bringing up the topic is the real problem, diversity itself is a taboo subject
GNU/Linux in Brazil. The B in BRIC(S).
the "market share" is assessed to be around 5%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 27, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, July 27, 2026
Hate Consumes the Haters
If you hate someone (or something) and you're willing to do anything for "hate rituals", then at the end the emotion will outweigh reason and it'll backfire, surely
GNU/Linux Rises Some More Internationally, statCounter Now Estimates Its Usage on Desktops/Laptops at 7.7%
significant growth for GNU/Linux in Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia
IBMers on PIPs and the Age (or Cost) Factor
People in their 50s seem to be targeted as they are considered "expensive"
Sad State of Troll-Feeding British Media (Establishment Channels Promoting Total Idiots)
Breeding ignorance means people will assume they have a choice between two pieces of trash: "Nige" or a literal trash can
Links 27/07/2026: Sleepless Japan PM Takaichi Becomes Unpopular and Data Centre Magnate Confiscate Land Without Consent
Links for the day
A Few Hours Ago The Register MS Published an 'Article' With "AI" 32 Times in It, Including First Word in Headline and Summary. It Was Paid SPAM "Sponsored by Hammerspace".
The lost media is engaging in self-harm
Microsoft is Down
This relates in a timely fashion to what we published yesterday
Gemini Links 27/07/2026: Gemified Internet RFCs, “Junk DNA” Is Commented-Out Code, and More
Links for the day
The Techrights Gemini Capsule Was Never a Mirror
Techrights has long taken accessibility quite seriously
Americans Are Not Our Masters
If you are subjected to online abuse, don't give up
Daniel Pocock Campaigns Around "Safety of Children Online" and "Cybersecurity"
There seems to be a growing 'coalition' in the UK based around important issues which impact the entire planet
XBox the Console is Practically Finished (Unofficially), Even the Streaming ("Live") or DRM Service is Dead
XBox has never been closer to profitability
Many CEOs Are Just Glorified Scammers With Suits and Ties
Economies cannot function when few people abuse them for self-enrichment
After statCounter Figures Out Many "Unknowns" Were in Fact GNU/Linux the "Market Share" Estimate in China More Than Doubles
Japan is the same for similar reasons
peppe8o - a Site About Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Electronics - Has Turned Into a Slopfarm
We won't be linking to it anymore
Feeding 'the Children'
Maybe some time soon we'll do a fund-raiser to help feed the birds
Japan: GNU/Linux Crosses the 5% Threshold, Two Years Ago It Was Only 1%
Now it's at over 5%
We Need More Transparency
Our heads of state are very much aware of and concerned about SLAPPs and censorship
EPO Cocainegate and Current EPO/EU Series to Carry on for Months to Come
Another week has begun
When IBM "Managers Have to Mark 15% of Their Teams as Low Performers" a PIP Means Likely Layoffs (Disguised as a Performance Issue)
"IBM is a Law firm with an I/T department."
Links 27/07/2026: Chatbots Lead to Suicides, Social Control Media Intentionally Designed for Addiction
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 26, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, July 26, 2026
Daniel Pocock in Mainstream Media Again
AFR wrote an article today. It is about Pocock and another contender.
Millions of Daily Requests
4.5+ million requests in 4 days
In statCounter, a Lot of "Unknown" Turns Out to be GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has more than doubled
3,500 Active Gemini Capsules Soon
How much longer before 3,500+ active? A month?
Gemini Links 26/07/2026: European Eclipse, Writing About Writing, and Comments on Formatting Gopher Posts
Links for the day
Stigma of Being Laid Off by Microsoft
One might call this the "curse" of having worked for Microsoft
Silent Layoffs (PIPs) Have Allegedly Accelerated Since IBM's Stock Cratered
"IBM is Managing Decline, Not Building Growth"
Non-Techs Using Slop Run Fedora and It's Turning Out to be a Total Disaster
RIP, Fedora?
Gemini Links 26/07/2026: Beach Day, CAs, and Plaintext
Links for the day
Sweden Needs GNU/Linux and Free Software, Not GAFAM
home of IKEA and ABBA
Being Pro-Slop is Death Knell to One's Credibility
It's not hard to see Ubuntu users resisting and antagonising this
Maintenance Today
Preparing for more mass-publication activities
Links 26/07/2026: "Zelenskyy Says Russia Wants To Bring North Korean Troops Into Ukraine", Muslim Van Ramming Attack on Berlin Pride
Links for the day
Centrica fraud exposed: worse than Palestine Action 'terrorists' with cardboard placards
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/07/2026: "Nate Silver Discovers the Educated Poor" and "India’s “Cockroach” Protest Movement Faces State Repression"
Links for the day
The Slop Bubble is Killing the Planet, Not Just the Economy
The chatbot/LLM speculation bubble not only causes a health crisis, a mental health epidemic, and climate change; it's also crashing the economy on several levels
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 25, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, July 25, 2026