TikTok's got a Massive Problem- And You Can Probably Guess What it Is!

no social media platform is perfect- i'm well aware of that. but it seems far easier for some platforms to admit their flaws than others, and for tiktok- it's been about as easy as trying to catch a well-oiled pig.one of the issues regarding tiktok is the platforms weird obsession with stalking- and it appears to be getting worse. 

i've actually discussed this on my main page before, but it definitely stems back longer than that. every now and then, you would see posts like "stalking someone i hate's reposts and seeing they're doing terrible," or "checking my ex's page even though he blocked me," and a lot of the comments will be in support or sharing stuff they found while doing the same. then there was the update to get rid of spam/bot accounts that accidentally flagged switching as bot activity, and people were upset about not being able to stalk others without risking getting their account banned. this was an incident i posted about on my main blog- stalking people isn't okay, it doesn't make you look "cool" and "mysterious," it just makes you look parasocial and creepy. but since then- it's only gotten WORSE from there. a rant account on the platform took to making this post, saying that it isnt okay to stalk people who have blocked you unless you know they're posting about you, and a lot of the comments took to justifying stalking people- some even saying that checking one's page after they've made it clear they don't want you to "doesn't count as stalking" if their page is public, and that people were "twisting the meaning of the word." firstly, cyberstalking is the term used for monitoring someone's activity online to a degree that makes them uncomfortable, worried, or scared- and as someone who's experienced it, if i saw someone i recognized and no longer talked to defending their behavior in the comments, i'd definitely feel worried i was their target, and uncomfortable that they even have access to my content. second, even if you want to argue it isnt stalking, you'd still be in the wrong- because when someone blocks you, no matter the reason, they're setting a boundary with you that says, "i don't want you interacting with me or viewing my content," and by hopping onto that burner or alt to continue doing that, you're intentionally breaking that boundary. 

the last thing about this problem- tiktok most definitely has the technology to fix it! they can update their community guidelines to tell people that this isn't okay, and with the unintentional bans people have gotten for switching accounts, they could monitor who's switching accounts with the intent to stalk others, and ban the accounts being used for that purpose. additionally, we know that they have the ability to bar entire nations from using the platform by utilizing your IP, SIM card, and device location- back during january's blackout, i couldn't use the app despite having a VPN, due to my phone's SIM being american. knowing this, i've pointed out that if they're able to do this, they can give us a feature similar to that of instagram's blocking system, that allows us to block potential accounts made on the same device, IP, and SIM card- and even then, some people are defensive. a person accused me of saying that tiktok "should just give everyone access to everyone's IP and SIM," which isn't at all how blocking by IP and SIM works, and another argued that some people might abuse the feature. to be honest, the only people who would are bigger problematic creators trying to sweep their actions under the rug- which won't even work, because people can still make posts about what they've done to spread awareness. all in all, i'm hoping that tiktok's moderators can wake up and fix this problem, because with the way the community is, i doubt the users are going to fix it themselves.

so, what are your thoughts? what do you think could help prevent stalking on tiktok?

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