As TikTok has exploded in popularity, the video platform has evolved from a benign place to share 15-second dances into a lawless wasteland of dangerous stunts engineered to go viral. Well, that’s at least what it’s become for Irish agricultural workers.
Some Irish TikTokers have recently drawn criticism for engaging in reckless behavior using agricultural machinery, RTÉ Ireland reports. Their stunts include driving a quad up a steep hill, standing on the drawbar of a tractor-trailer being driven on a public road, and sitting in the bucket of a digger swinging at high speed.
Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority is trying to identify the vehicles and locations shown in these TikToks. The organization described this behavior as “shocking” and has the authority to fine employers for it.
Additionally, Ireland’s police force, An Garda Síochána, has said, “Any reckless behaviour which puts the lives of operators, passengers or any road users at risk, will be investigated fully.”
Michael Creed, Ireland’s minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, also denounced these stunts on Twitter on Tuesday.
“This is alarmingly childish immature behaviour,” he wrote. “I see boys tasked with adult work clearly incapable of responsibility. I’m sure their families will be mortified. They’re lucky that’s curable. Too many others are not so fortunate!”
These dangerous agricultural stunts violate TikTok’s community guidelines, which forbid “dangerous challenges that might lead to injury” and “content that shows the inappropriate use of dangerous tools.”
It would behoove the platform to crack down on such videos; in March, a 23-year-old man from India died while attempting to film himself riding on a fast-moving tractor and the vehicle overturned and crushed him.
Dr. Daniel Barrett, a plastic surgeon who’s popular on TikTok, is facing threat of a lawsuit from Hailey Bieber after suggesting she got work done.
Hailey and Justin Bieber’s lawyers sent the surgeon a cease-and-desist letter claiming he used her likeness without her permission and spread “uncorroborated claims that Mrs. Bieber has undergone plastic surgery.”
Barrett was also accused of copyright infringement for using the lyrics to Justin Bieber’s song “Sorry” in the captions.
Barett compared two photos of Hailey Bieber, one from 2011 and another from 2016, to try and debunk an Instagram where she claimed that she has never gotten plastic surgery. Barrett said there was no way her nose could have transformed the way it did without the help of a plastic surgeon.
Barrett said that she may have gotten work done on her nose based on the position of her nose and the size of the tip of her nose. He also suggested that she has gotten multiple surgeries, with the most noticeable being a genioplasty and lip fillers.
The legal team representing the Biebers said the video contained multiple violations, including slander and violation of rights of privacy. Despite the couple’s demands, Barrett has neither removed the video nor issued a public retraction.
The doctor told E! News that his videos are to “educate people about plastic surgery” and that it’s “crazy” for the celebrities to threaten a lawsuit.
“The purpose of the video was not to disparage Hailey Bieber in any way, the purpose of my video was to share my opinion about the procedures that I believed she may have had done based on photos alone,” Barrett said. “This is at the request of many of my viewers who follow me for this type of information and for my opinion.”
Peter Manfredonia, a senior at the University of Connecticut, is suspected of killing two people. He’s also the suspect in an assault and abduction. All this isn’t stopping people online from stanning him.
Instagram and TikTok users are leaving thirst comments on his Instagram photos and creating stan accounts for him.
Screenshots of his alleged Instagram account with the username @pmanfro76—which has since been deleted—was flooded with comments about Manfredonia’s alleged crimes and praises of him. Others on the platform, as well as on TikTok, are posting Manfredonia fancams, which are video or photo compilations of the person being stanned, usually reserved for K-pop idols.
TikTok user @_aspensmith shared some of the comments posted to his alleged Instagram account. “Come do a world tour,” one user wrote. “WHY IS HE KINDA CUTE?” another comment read.
Others are allegedly sharing their home addresses. “Wanna take a visit to Indianapolis, Illinois?” one user asked.
One TikTok user, @Briellebelly12, expressed her concerns after seeing the trend taking place in a TikTok, saying, “Everyone is flooding his comments with their addresses because he’s still at large,” she said. “I know that sh*t’s not real. There’s no way. That’s not even funny. What is 2020? Oh, my god.”
Insider reports that the problematic content may be coming from a group within the Nicki Minaj’s fandom, Barbz, because of the inclusion of song lyrics from some of her songs.
The Daily Dot can confirm there are still multiple stan accounts up on Instagram. Most of the people behind the accounts are claiming they created the accounts in jest and are asking critics to “chill out.” The two most popular right now are @pmanfro76baee, with over 940 followers, and @pmanfro.76, with over 1,500 followers.
Maryland police confirmed on Thursday that Manfredonia is in police custody after turning himself into the police.
A woman recording a TikTok in Mexico in mid-May accidentally set fire to a forest, burning about 150 acres and forcing the evacuation of about 60 people.
A 25-year-old woman and her friend were recording themselves juggling fire in the town of Tepoztlán in the state of Morelos in central Mexico. The woman accidentally lost control of one of the flames, and it caught a tree on fire, according to Latin American news outlet infobae.
The fire quickly spread and devastated the tropical forest, which was a protected natural zone and archeological zone.
When the women began to scream as the fire grew, about 20 neighbors came to help set it out. However, the fire was too large, and they were unable to stop it. By the end of the incident, more than 500 people worked for three days to stop the spread of the fire. In addition, the Mexican government sent a helicopter to help battle the flames.
Nos sumamos junto con las autoridades locales a las tareas de combatir el incendio forestal en la zona de Tepoztlán #Morelos, con un helicóptero MI-17 que realiza descargas de agua mediante un helibalde. #MéxicoEnGuardiapic.twitter.com/17616vivGt
The fire harmed parts of an archeological site and destroyed parts of the forest, which was being protected because of its flora and fauna, according to infobae. The town is known as a “pueblo magico,” or a town especially important to the country’s tourism.
While the woman was brought to a police station following the incident, no one officially filed a complaint against her so she was released.
Neighbors say the girl and her friend were trying to recreate a ritual of Mexican ritual for the TikTok, and the recorded clips were never published.
So the next time you want to record a TikTok of yourself juggling fire, make sure not to do it in a protected forest and archeological zone.
Run by 17-year-old Hannah McSorley, @.baby.frogs delivers soothing montages of tadpoles wriggling around in an inflatable pool, nibbling on a curated diet of salad and fish. Featuring educational voiceovers in McSorley’s upbeat Irish accent, the daily updates are an appealing combination of relaxing and bizarre. Like, how on earth did this girl wind up raising 37,927 tadpoles in her backyard?
McSorley’s tadpole census numbers are so amusingly specific that we had to ask. And while we’re sorry to spoil the magic, no: it’s not exactly 37,927 tadpoles. “That’s the million dollar question,” she told the Daily Dot. “I started counting at one and ended up at 37,000. I probably skipped a few, and I just like to call it a very generous estimate.” You can forgive the artistic license; it’s still a hell of a lot of tadpoles.
While mass tadpole farming is the polar opposite of a popular hobby, McSorley’s motives feel very familiar. Like many people, her life has been disrupted by the Covid-19 lockdown, and she decided to start a project to keep herself busy. Living in the countryside, she has fond memories of raising tadpoles as a child. Now was the perfect time to try again on a grander scale. Beginning with a jar of frogspawn she collected while hiking with her brother, she started raising them in plastic tubs in her garden.
You can tell from McSorley’s TikToks that she’s a bona fide tadpole expert. Each developmental stage is carefully documented, and you can see how much work goes into keeping the babies healthy. She also has a well-informed exit strategy for when the tadpoles actually grow up: “Realistically, there will not be 37,000 frogs.”
“I’ve had a few people concerned about the local environment, and to address that, I have two points,” she said. “First of all, it will not be this mass exodus, like a biblical plague of frogs that some people are expecting.” Most of the tadpoles will die off before adulthood, which is why frogs lay so many eggs in the first place.
“I care a lot about the environment, and have actually done heaps of research, read loads of studies about frogs,” she continued. Plus, her local area had abnormally dry weather this year, meaning most of the natural tadpole sources have dried up. When McSorley’s frogs are grown, she plans to release them in batches into various streams and ponds around the neighboring countryside, which hopefully won’t overwhelm the local ecosystem.
“I am just amazed at the interest people have in frogspawn and tadpoles,” added McSorley, who now has over half a million followers on TikTok, eagerly waiting on the next daily tadpole update.
The national unrest over the police killing of George Floyd has given rise to a pair of viral conspiracy theories that two online platforms are suppressing mention of “Black Lives Matter” and “George Floyd.”
Both companies—Cash App and TikTok—say that its issue was caused by a technical glitch.
That hasn’t stopped either claim from continuing to circulate.
Yesterday morning, a Twitter user claimed that payments via Cash App that included “Black Lives Matter” in the notes were automatically being canceled and refunded.
They later clarified that it was Cash App.
As the tweet went viral, Cash App’s verified support account responded to say that it was a technical, rather than intentional, issue.
“We’re currently experiencing connection issues which is causing payments to fail for some customers,” @CashSupport tweeted. “We’re working on a solution, and as soon as this has been resolved, we’d recommend you retry the payment.”
The company also referred people to a page on its website where it reports problems affecting functionality. Incidents were reported there on both May 28, the date of the tweet, and May 29.
Until earlier this morning, Cash App’s main Twitter account also noted it was “experiencing issues” in its bio.
Most on the thread didn’t buy the company’s explanation, however. “What’s wrong with B*m?” tweeted one. “Wow, nice cover,” said another.
A few did defend Cash App. One woman said that she’d also had issues on payments that didn’t reference Black Lives Matter.
Nevertheless, the claim continues circulating. As of this morning, the original tweet had nearly 19,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes. Nearly all comments were dragging the company.
Cash App may take a small measure of comfort in the fact that it isn’t alone in such woes.
Later yesterday, a Twitter user claimed that TikTok was blocking tags related to Black Lives Matter and George Floyd.
The tweet quickly went viral. As of this writing, it is approaching 45,000 retweets and 100,000 likes. Many who commentedclaim that TikTok, a Chinese company, is suppressing such content because of racism towards Blacks in that country.
Early this morning, TikTok’s verified support account replied to the tweet, saying that a technical issue was affecting random words, such as “cat” and “hello,” and was not caused by intentional action on its part.
“Our team is investigating and working quickly to address the issue,” @TikTokSupport added.
A company spokesperson directed the Daily Dot to this tweet, as well as a thread by New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz saying the claim that TikTok was suppressing the hashtags was false.
Multiple searches for both hashtags this morning confirmed that assessment. According to the site count, to date, nearly 190 million people have viewed TikToks tagged #GeorgeFloyd. More than a half-billion have viewed TikToks including the #BlackLivesMatter tag.
But like the rumor about Cash App, people continue accusing TikTok of suppressing the hashtags.
“Just like that. I’m off that app. If you don’t support black people I don’t support you. An explanation is needed,” tweeted one this morning, hours after the claim had been debunkednumerous times. “Lol how convenient,” said another.
Just goes to show that a conspiracy theory can circle the internet twice while the truth is still typing its response.
A series of videos went viral on TikTok this week after the person who posted them claimed that she had been kidnapped and needed to be rescued. However, police have now said they have found her and she is in no danger.
User @sigzfr originally shared a video showing bruises all over her arms and legs, captioned “Actions speak louder than words. This isn’t love. #TheHighNote #rainonme.”
Over the next two days, she shared four additional videos (though only three are currently accessible), showing more bruises and ropes tied around her ankles. In one of the videos, she said that her name is Elle Sigmund and that she had been kidnapped and knew only that she was somewhere in Arkansas.
“Please I do not know where I am,” she wrote in one of the comment sections. “I know I’m in Arkansas.”
Other written comments gave further details, saying that the man who kidnapped her went by the last name Colarelli. At one point, she even insinuated that he was going to kill her and would not be posting any further videos.
The videos drew concern from viewers as they drew more and more attention, leading to folks tagging the Arkansas State Police and contacting it through other forms of social media.
The Arkansas State Poloce have posted that they are aware and investigating. I just now found it and am very scared. I don’t know if it’s real, but this is an extremely disturbing account.
While many users on TikTok begged her to call the police, Sigmund reportedly claimed that she couldn’t because her kidnapper would hear anything she said out loud. Instead, she continued sharing videos of her legs and hands in a nondescript corner of a room.
Her refusal to call police led to growing skepticism among viewers, some of whom pointed out that her bio was merely her Venmo username, and that almost a dozen people had already publicly sent her money in relation to her videos.
And according to the Arkansas State Police, there was never any reason for concern.
“Thanks to hard work by the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division and multiple other law enforcement agencies in neighboring states, the female was found safe in Missouri, and not in any danger,” Corporal Liz Chapman of the Arkansas State Police Public Affairs Office wrote in an email to Insider.
Sigmund would not be the first person on social media to fake a kidnappingfor attention, but as of now, there are no additional details available about the case. There have also been no additional uploads on her TikTok account.
During a weekend of protests across the country for George Floyd and other men and women killed by police, one of TikTok’s biggest stars spoke out about being an “ally.”
On Sunday, Charli D’Amelio posted a video that referenced the injustice of Floyd’s death directly, and stated that “As a person who has been given the platform to be an influencer, I’ve realized that with that title, I have a job to inform people on the racial inequalities in the world right now.” She also mentioned that she changed her profile photo after receiving feedback about using the Black Lives Matter fist image.
The 16-year-old has more than 60 million followers on the app, many of them teenagers like her, and the video has more than 11 million likes. It’s notable after a recent controversy: Her older sister Dixie, also a TikTok star, was called out for a 2017 photo of a Trump-Pence campaign sign. Last month she said she has “never supported Trump.”
This comes as more scrutiny is directed at celebrities and influencers with major platforms who have stayed silent about police brutality, or offered empty gestures of solidarity. While YouTuber Jake Paul allegedly took part in looting this weekend (or, as he later clarified, “documenting” it), beauty vlogger Jackie Aina called out fashion brands “who love capitalizing on black culture, black music, black aesthetic, but are dead silent when it comes to talking about black issues and black struggles in our community.” YouTuber Bretman Rock called out influencers for being “too quiet” on police brutality.
Last week, TikTok was accused of deleting Black Lives Matter and George Floyd hashtags, though the company said it was a “glitch.” It’s also faced criticism for suppressing content from Black creators.
In a viral TikTok video posted Monday night, Los Angeles police shoot two peaceful bystanders, seemingly unprovoked. The two men were in an empty street, about half a block away from a line of armed police. The officers shot them with what appear to be less-than-lethal “rubber” bullets—large plastic projectiles that can cause serious injuries and in some cases, death.
The original TikTok came from someone watching nearby, Jackson Monroe. It’s been viewed 3 million times on TikTok and 5 million times on Twitter, showing handheld footage of two men standing in the street. “They’re just having a normal conversation, while at least a hundred cops are just staring at them,” says Monroe in the voiceover. (The video only shows about a dozen officers.)
“Oh, they’re moving forward,” the voiceover continues, referring to the police. The two men kept standing still and were then shot by the police, doubling over in pain. It’s unclear whether their choice to stand in the street was an act of peaceful protest, or if they were just watching.
In a later video, Monroe held up a projectile that he said was used in the altercation. These bullets, also known as baton rounds, have injured many protesters, bystanders, and journalists during the George Floyd protests.
An Austrian teen is facing backlash for putting blackface on half of her face in an effort to denounce racism and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
While the TikTok video by @catharinas_beauty has since been deleted, it was viewed 1.1 million times, according to the New York Post.
“Thank you user catharinas_beauty, racism is no more!” one user wrote on Twitter, where the video was eventually reposted.
In the video, which lasts less than 30 seconds, the white 16-year-old puts brown makeup on. She uses Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” for the video’s sound. The 2018 song, as well as its accompanying music video, received recognition for its acute commentary on Black lives and gun violence in America. It is seeing a resurge in popularity—especially on TikTok—after the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests.
After receiving backlash, the teen apologized in another TikTok video on Monday. “I deleted the video & the picture and I hope you can forgive me. it was never meant to be,” she wrote in German.
She also posted an apology to Instagram using the same handle, @catharinas_beauty.
“I didnt meant it like that and you know that,” she wrote. “Im only a child, and you are adult, you have to know better. I didnt researched before i made this look, i should have done that i know.”
She said in her post that she received death threats, but the Daily Dot was not able to independently verify the claim.
People online responded to her apology by telling her to be “be cautious” and “do some research.”
“The best thing you can do now is educate yourself on the history behind black face, and learn about why it is so wrong,” one person commented. “Its good you acknowledged what you did, and apologized for it! I just hope you use this as a learning opportunity.”
Recently, a Filipino artist similarly came under fire for posting photos in blackface to show support for the Black Lives Matter protests going on around the world.
Abbie Richards was jogging when she discovered her single-issue platform. As she ran past a golf course surrounded by “no trespassing” signs, the campaign to cancel golf took shape.
Richards, 23, isn’t actually running for office—yet. But over the last month, she’s crafted an organic movement on TikTok to #cancelgolf. The hashtag has more than 3.7 million views, and in her videos Richards illustrates the environmental and social implications of golf courses, using humor and a few dance moves.
“The privatization of green spaces, especially during a pandemic when people need to maximize their distance from one another, made me furious,” Richards tells the Daily Dot of the genesis of #cancelgolf. She says her first anti-golf TikTok, where she announces her “platform,” did better than expected.
“So I kept researching,” she says. “And the more you learn about golf, the more you hate it. I see this happening with the TikTok users as well. The more I provide educational, well-researched videos about golf and its social, environmental, and political ramifications, the more they also start to hate golf.”
Richards grew up in Boston, and after graduating college with an environmental science degree, she moved to Melbourne, where she pursued standup comedy for the last two years before returning to the states. Aussie comic Hannah Gadsby has a bit about hating golf in her new special Douglas, and Richards points out George Carlin and Robin Williams have also tackled its inanity. Her TikToks get at why golf is easily mocked, as well as the racism and sexism built into the “sport.”
She also makes points about what all that green space could be used for, and the toxic chemicals and pesticides sprayed on courses. Then there’s the matter of President Trump’s multiple golf courses, and his visits on taxpayers’ dime. And, you know, golfing during a pandemic.
“Trump golfing as the COVID death rate hit 100,000 certainly didn’t hurt my argument,” Richards says. “Plus his golf course, Mar-a-Lago, is built on coastal wetlands, which are an essential ecosystem for combating climate change. Coastal wetlands are one of the most effective carbon sinks on the planet and their destruction releases incredible amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Trump golfing at Mar-a-Lago is like a visual representation of our leaders not only failing to combat a grave issue facing our generation but then playing a game on top of their destruction.”
While Richards has responded to critics who feel the need to diminish her knowledge and body—she apparently has “one rich white kid who spends his entire days in my comments sections insulting and threatening me/my followers”—she says the movement is important.
“It’s an environmental issue but also a political issue, a social issue, a public health issue,” she says. “Also, quite frankly, golf is boring and the clothes are ugly.”
Though her more recent TikToks are focused on the protests, Richards is thinking even bigger about the #cancelgolf movement, especially if it reaches the right audience: “One day, if I work hard enough, maybe the president will slander me on Twitter!”
Childish Gambino’s 2018 song “This Is America” is seeing a bump on TikTok, and the charts, in the wake of countrywide protests.
The song—and more specifically the video, which has more than 674 million views—addresses police brutality and racial unrest, and it’s being used to soundtrack TikToks documenting the current unrest across America. Know Your Meme points out that a remix of the song, bookended with Post Malone’s “Congratulations,” started circulating in April but picked up in early May—when the murder of Ahmaud Arbery was finally being investigated.
It has also been used in tone-deaf videos, like the Austrian teen who did half-blackface, and later apologized after backlash, or the young man who implied Trump supporters are being oppressed or censored.
The audio’s been used in more than 425,000 videos, though snippets of the original song are also circulating. “This Is America” charted on Spotify again this week, along with Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 single “Alright.”
Over the last two weeks, TikTok has seen a shift from dances and challenges to videos documenting police brutality and protests. There are tutorials for how to safely protest, lists of resources, and demonstrations of racial inequality. (Coincidentally, Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” is also trending.)
The countrywide protests, propelled by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, shifted TikTok’s lens in other ways: Charli D’Amelio, one of its most popular creators, addressed Floyd’s murder and stated she would be an “ally” and amplify voices. Elsewhere, TikTok stars documented their presence at protests, and donated to bail funds and Black-centered causes.
The company has been accused of suppressing Black creators in favor of more popular white creators, which means racist challenges are also given more time. As protests started in Minneapolis last week, TikTok was accused of hiding Black Lives Matter and George Floyd hashtags. The company said it was a “technical glitch,” and on Monday apologized for that and took responsibility for how it’s treated Black creators, stating that it’s trying to “foster an inclusive environment.”
But TikTok’s algorithm, which populates the For You page with personalized content, is still serving you what it thinks you want to see, instead of viewpoints outside your own. BuzzFeed took a look at the “bubble effect” on TikTok, and interviewed Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, who’s studied the effect on other platforms. She said people have to actively escape that bubble and “deliberately go and find content that signals that you’re interested in that kind of content.”
A Reuters article painted the recent shift as TikTok’s “Arab Spring moment,” referencing the series of uprisings across the Middle East in 2011, which were aided by Twitter. TikTok has the chance to use short-form storytelling to document what’s happening beyond teens’ bedrooms, and as a platform to organize. Is it up to the challenge?
someone on tiktok said they love being Gen Z cuz we get to watch the revolution happen in real time with a soundtrack LMFAOO pic.twitter.com/dNm67eHT2a
TikTok’s been mocked as a void of dopey dances and inane challenges, but it’s also revealed a very clear generational line, especially as millennials and Gen X downloaded the app during lockdown. Teens use TikTok to communicate and express themselves; a lot of them aren’t on Twitter or Facebook. They create new slang and experiment with creative ways of delivering important info, but are often written off as uninformed narcissists.
They’re also often just starting to recognize their politics and identity, away from whatever cable-news bubble or political ideology their parents might occupy. On June 1, writer Safy-Hallan Farah posted a tweet about a TikTok in which a teenage girl cries over her family’s response to the Floyd murder. “I do not want to live here,” the girl says through tears. “I hate living in Louisiana, I hate living around these racist fucks.”
“There’s a whole genre of white gen z kids processing in real-time what’s new information to them (but not us),” Farah wrote of the video.
The emotional video is from 15-year-old Izabella Miletello. She followed up with a response thanking people for support and clarifying that she didn’t intend to offend, but on Wednesday tweeted that “Due to people at my school bullying me and threatening to send my parents the video,” she’d have to take it off TikTok. (Her account is now private. We reached out for comment.)
This isn’t an isolated event. Other teens have posted similar videos where they push back against their parents’ objections about protesting, or process the realization that their family members see racism and police brutality differently.
Grace, 18, posted a video about wanting to protest that includes a mashup of two audio samples—one about wanting to “be on the front line,” from a song by Zella Day, and another replying “I’ll whoop your ass,” ostensibly from the POV of a parent. The audio from her TikTok has been used in more than 1,000 others to convey a similar sentiment about wanting to do something but not being allowed, or being unsure of how to help.
She tells the Daily Dot she wanted to go to a protest 45 minutes away in Chicago but her parents were worried. “There are certain things my parents and I disagree about when it comes to politics but ultimately they have always supported me and taught me to speak up for what’s right,” she says. “This is something that I am grateful to have learned from them and will continue to do in order to use my privilege and speak up for those whose voices are not heard.”
Grace thinks TikTok can be a beneficial platform for organizing and activism, but she “did think it was wrong of them to suppress content from Black creators. Whether or not they wanted to just stay neutral on the situation, at this point staying neutral is choosing the side of the oppressor.” She adds that in an effort to protest without worrying her parents, “some of my friends and I are actually organizing our own peaceful, student-led protest for our community to help with the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s definitely one of the most important things I’ve ever done.”
Hayley, 18, posted a TikTok using Grace’s audio, and insinuated her parents were prohibiting her from offering support, too.
“They want me safe,” she says. “But at the same time they were telling me, ‘You’re not going to make a change, Black people never asked for you to be there, you’re just going to be seen as some dumb white girl.’”
Her parents are conservative and Hayley says they often shrug off the “hurtful” things Trump says about marginalized communities, but she sees a responsibility to stand up for her friends—”fighting for their rights to feel safe in our country is important to me. If I have to use my white privilege to fight for them then I will.”
Of course, there hasn’t been a total shift: There are still plenty of misguided and tone-deaf performances, narcissism or privilege disguised as activism or allyship. The craven “challenges” are creeping in. But the front lines are being redefined.
With the help of a full moon, TikTok witches are using their powers to protest protesters against police brutality.
Utilizing the #witchesforblm hashtag, practicing witches are teaching one another how to cast spells, draw sigils, and manifest intentions. Videos under the hashtag have been viewed more than 12 million times.
According to Mashable, the movement started with TikTok user, @beckydoeslife. She commented on a post in response to a TikTok by @venxm.exe in which the witch filmed herself casting a protection spell for protesters across the nation rallying against the police killing of George Floyd and similar acts of police brutality.
“The witches or practitioners are using [their] power to help aid in healing and protecting people of color, or anyone affected,” TikTok user @geminimoon01, a practicing witch, told Refinery29. “Some witches are also taking the advantage of this great energy to hex the oppressors.”
In some videos, TikTok users act out what they predict will happen to cops after the witches cast their spells.
And in another video for beginner witches, user @jes.tkidding_ suggests a simple hex: On paper, write down the names of officers and then use a black candle to burn the paper all the way through.
The movement doesn’t stop with witchcraft, however. Users are also encouraging witches to sign petitions, donate to the Black Lives Matter movement, and attend protests.
“Some people choose to believe in our craft and some don’t,” @geminimoon01 told Refinery29. “At the end of the day we are all human and we just want to survive in this world.”
A young man drew the wrath of a “Karen” in Florida earlier this week after holding up a protest sign on a street corner.
The incident began when Phyllis Kahn and her daughter Angelina, two Black women, witnessed a young white man at an intersection in Wellington.
The man, who was by himself, was holding up a sign that stated, “Black Lives Fucking Matter” in an “affluent white suburb.”
Kahn, according to BuzzFeed News, circled back with her daughter to thank the man for his lone protest.
“It was just so touching to see a white male standing out on the corner and actually trying to protect a cause and support the community,” Kahn said. “Angelina and I were in tears. We had to go back and support him.”
While driving up to the man, Angelina rolled down her window.
“All it takes is one,” she said.
But just moments later, the protester, 23-year-old Shane Meyers, was met with a much different reaction.
Shout to to this guy for somehow getting the cops called on him for his one man protest (credit tiktok user shanemeyers1) pic.twitter.com/yJWmbrOAyk
— Swagapinos 4 Black Power (@jonny_is_good) June 3, 2020
A woman referred to only as Karen, a slang term used to describe a middle-aged white woman who throws public tantrums, approached Meyers after calling the police.
Footage filmed by Meyers shows the woman complaining to deputies that the sign is “going to crank up the wrong people.”
“I don’t want to be driving and have bullets shot at me because they’re upset,” the woman said.
The deputy on scene goes on to explain that “unfortunately” Meyers’ sign is protected speech.
“Unfortunately, he’s allowed to stand here with a sign that says whatever he wants to say on it,” the deputy said.
But Karen wasn’t having any of it.
“I’m just upset because I don’t want to get caught if there starts rioting because of your sign,” she added.
Meyers responded by stating that he’s “upset because black and brown lives are at risk every single day in this country.”
The video ultimately ends with Meyers calling the woman a “snowflake” for being offended by the profanity on his sign.
With nothing else to be done, the deputies left the scene. The incident went viral after both Angelina and Meyers posted their footage to TikTok.
The encounter quickly spread online, leading many to call for more protesters on the street corner.
“Damn. Let’s not all go to the corner of 441 and Forest Hill Blvd in Wellington FLon Friday June 5 at 10AM and March west into the village,” Twitter user @Unfiltered_Cole sarcastically said. “Let’s not do that.”
The call to action appears to have worked. On Tuesday, around half a dozen people showed up. By Friday, dozens were standing on the street corner.
Meet Kyle, Karen’s male-counterpart who tried to angrily kick two girls out of a residential pool for allegedly breaking the rules.
“I’m tired of your shit and your shit. I’m tired of you people breaking the rules,” he said in a video posted on TikTok by one of the girls.
“The rules say no cussing. Please don’t cuss at me,” she said.
Throughout the three-part video series, the man, we’ll call him Kyle, screams at the girls to leave the pool. He said he’d already called the cops and they were on their way.
The man, who claims to be the pool manager, said the girl couldn’t have a guest in the pool without adult supervision. In a separate TikTok, the girl explains that her friend is living with her and is therefore a resident, not a guest. It’s unclear whether that’s how the rules in their community work.
Commentors on Reddit, where the video was reposted, explained that the rule in question may be to protect the property owners from liability should something happen to a minor at the pool.
“Regardless of who is right and who is wrong in this situation, mr pool manager does not conduct himself like an adult and could have handled the situation much better,” wrote @emilysn0w.
The man got super frustrated that the two girls didn’t immediately take his word about the rules and leave. The girl filming the video, who never resorted to yelling at the man, pointed out that he was “cussing” and that’s against pool rules. She added that she consistently sees him and his family at the pool after hours.
“Get out!” he screamed in response.
The girl said she’ll wait for the police because she’d like to talk to them about how the man is treating her. In a follow-up post, the girl said she doesn’t think he actually called the cops since she waited 30 minutes and they never showed.
“You’re being a belligerent little child, and I have asked you to leave,” he said.
“You’re being a harassing old man. You are harassing me for swimming at the pool,” she rebutted.
He told her to turn her phone off and said she’s “disrespecting” him.
“Sir. You are screaming in my face,” she responded.
When another adult joins the conversation, the man, who seconds ago was screaming at the girl, switches to a calmer tone of voice.
Two other men, one shown on camera and one heard off-camera, chime in, agreeing with the man. Not one defended the girl or called out the man’s attempt at intimidation.
“I love how you men love to tell me what to do, but I’m a woman, and I’m not going to let you harass me,” the girl said.
LED strip lights are a Generation Z signature at this point.
They’re in the background of many leading TikTok creators’ top videos, providing mood lighting to what otherwise is usually a white wall. Here’s what you should know about the trend, where to buy these trending lights, the best types to buy, and how to use them.
What are these TikTok lights?
As a social media trend, “TikTok lights” is the Gen-Z answer to the fairy string lights of the 2010s, lighting rooms and creating a decidedly edgy vibe in direct opposition to the warmth and comfort conferred by its predecessor. With some options offering 20 basic colors and remote controls that trigger different lighting modes, these colored LED lights offer endless customizability depending on your mood.
Many of the lights featured in videos that end up on your For You Page are LED color-changing strip lights intended to enhance the ambiance of a room, and not just for a video. These lights can be used for parties, chilling with your pals, or having moody quarantine selfie sessions. Higher-quality color-changing LED lights have the capacity to create DIY colors, so the use cases of such a product are only as limited as one’s imagination.
These lights also tend to offer a range of timers and dimming patterns, meaning they can be strobe lights as well as offering both strong and gentle illumination. Whether run around a ceiling or lining a shelf or closet, a strip of LED lights can offer custom lighting wherever you want it.
And whether you’re looking for the change of vibe that comes with color-changing LED lights or another way to keep up “with the kids,” there is a bottomless pit of different buying options online.
Where can I buy TikTok lights?
TikTok lights are available online at many major retailers like Target, Walmart, and Amazon, some home improvement and hardware stores like Home Depot and ACE Hardware also carry them.
An affordable option like the Minger LED Strip Lights will run you $14.99, with free shipping if you’re a Prime member. This particular product supplies 16.4 feet of light, with 20 basic colors and 6 DIY colors. While a lot of lighting options have adapters that tend to heat up, the Minger only has a 12-volt adapter, keeping it cool.
If you’re looking for a lighting experience synced up to your phone or Bluetooth speaker, there are many options out there for you. The LE Smart LED Strip is 16.4 feet of Bluetooth lighting with a whopping 16 million color options. It’s compatible with the Amazon Echo and Google Home, and if you’re in a rush and forget to turn it off before you leave, the lights can be controlled from anywhere with the LE LampUX app. For $29.99, the lights sync up with your choice of device to provide an entertaining and customizable flash of color.
The Maylit LED Strip Light kit is a middle ground between Bluetooth-syncable lighting and a reasonable price tag at $15.99. The strip has 5050 individual LEDs and is controlled by both a small remote or app depending on your preferred method. With 16 colors and 4 flash modes, the 16.4-foot strip has a memory capacity that will keep your favorite colors and other settings just a couple taps away.
For a waterproof solution, such as to light the underside of a bar or kitchen area, the Daybetter LED Strip Light is a solid option at $28.99. Similar to the Maylit LED light strip, Daybetter’s has 5050 lights but sets itself apart with the ability to be voice-controlled without connecting to a smart speaker. A high-sensitivity mic is already present in the lights, but it is still capable of connecting to an Alexa or Google Home. The lights can also be controlled via app or remote control.
How do I mount TikTok lights?
Similar to many other college dorm decorations, TikTok LED strip lights are an adhesive install. Most of these lighting kits will come with their own adhesive clips to affix them on a wall, ceiling, or underneath a countertop, but there are many other options if you’re not comfortable with an unfamiliar adhesive that could possibly damage your wall.
For slimmer strips of lights, repositionable light clips are a solid choice. These $8.37 clips from 3M’s Command can hold up to half a pound each, making them sturdy enough to place lights wherever you can think of.
If you have a more sturdy strip of lights on your hands, the round cord clips might be a better solution. Command Round Cord Clips are intended for indoor use, so it’s not recommended that these be used for outdoor installation. A pack of 13 is on offer at Amazon for $9.99.
If you do want to put a sturdy strip of LED lights up outside, preferably waterproof, you’ll need a heavy-duty solution: brackets. This 100-pack of Griver Strip Light Mounting Brackets is $6.99 and has enough screws and plastic brackets to mount several strips to an outdoor patio or another backyard hangout.
What kind of content can I make with TikTok lights?
If you are looking to use these lights to make TikTok videos, there’s plenty of options for the kinds of videos you can make. One of the most popular is to lip-sync a song or snippet of dialogue from a show or movie you like. Plenty of creators just use the ambiance created to make a video have a certain mood during a rant. The types of videos you make with these super aesthetic lights are totally up to you.
A young girl made a TikTok featuring the aftermath of her cousin, Hannah, a minor, getting catcalled by a man at Walmart.
The video, which is captioned “My cousin got catcalled in Walmart today,,, then it escalated,” now has over 19 million views with over 4 million likes on TikTok. The duo who antagonized the two girls have not yet been identified publicly.
The video begins with a woman defending the man’s actions, saying, “You showed your a**. He complimented it, so get the f*ck over it.”
“Don’t wear that slutty a** outfit,” The man says.
The girl recording begins to defend her cousin, saying, “She can wear what she wants!” The couple continues to berate the girls as they try to get away from the couple. The video ends with Hannah crying and saying she is going to the front of the store.
She uploaded two more TikToks on the matter—one showing what happened before the incident and an update on finding the couple who harassed the two girls.
In the second video, captioned “Here’s the before from my last post,” the man tells her that she has “an ugly f*cking face, an ugly f*cking personality, a cute a**,” saying her a** is the only thing she has going for her.
The girl recording tells the man to walk away, but he continues to hurl verbal assaults at the girls, calling one a “c*nt.”
She updated her followers on what happened after. People seemingly found out where the woman in the video works: Autoserv of Tilton. The family-owned business, according to the TikToker, is getting review-bombed. The TikTok user told her followers not to leave any more bad reviews as AutoServ allegedly fired the woman. The man has yet to be identified yet.
The newest member of the Los Angeles-based Hype House, Darianka Sanchez, has moved in, following Charli and Dixie D'Amelio's departure in May. Sanchez is an 18-year-old Costa Rican model from Florida who gained her following of 1.1 million with dancing and lip-syncing videos.
Founded in December of 2019, the Hype House is a collaboration project of Thomas Petrou, Chase Hudson, and Daisy Keech, who brought some of the platform's biggest names under one roof.
To announce the new addition to the Hype House, a post featuring Sanchez was shared to their official Instagram account June 6.
The post was captioned, "New Friends," indicating Sanchez's official addition to the group.
Some fans were confused about who Darianka Sanchez is.
Sanchez posted on her Instagram account June 7 about joining the Hype House, wearing a hoodie featuring the Hype House logo. This post to her personal account was swamped with support from both her fans and current Hype House members such as Petrou and Bryant. Her modeling agency also congratulated her in the comment section.
As for her modeling career, Evolve Model Management and Next Models represent Sanchez.
Sanchez's TikTok account, @whotfisdarianka, already features content that she's made with other members of the Hype House. She wrote that her main account, @itsdarianka, was experiencing some issues, necessitating a secondary account.
From dancing on floors and countertops to lip-syncing in a bathroom mirror, Sanchez has quickly made life in the Hype House a regular subject in her videos.
Before becoming a TikTok star, Sanchez ran on her Florida high school's track and field team, as well as participated on its cheerleading squad. She was also elected homecoming queen.
The far-right "Boogaloo Boys" movement, which is founded in the belief that a second civil war is on the horizon, has attempted to engage with the world on TikTok.
But recently, TikTok has been pushing back against the movement on its platform, taking down numerous posts from the site and it as a "hateful ideology."
Spurred in part by the coronavirus lockdowns, the Boogaloo Boys have become a leading "anti-government movement that advocates for a violent uprising,” according to NBC.
As Media Matters reported, the Boogaloo Boys had recently found a foothold on TikTok.
It appears like it will not last.
Numerous accounts that flaunted semi-automatic rifles and espoused such messages as “It’s fucking boog time, boys. Let’s go,” have been removed from the site.
According to a TikTok spokesperson, many other accounts and videos with boogaloo references violate their community guidelines.
"As we make clear in our Community Guidelines we do not allow content that promotes hateful ideologies. The accounts in question have been removed for violating our guidelines," the TikTok spokesperson told the Daily Dot.
While videos mentioning boogaloo have had action taken against them—an alternative spelling, boogalo, appears to now be a breeding ground for similar content.
(@rbitluv) 
(@Unfiltered_Cole) 
