Despite the impassioned, research-backed pleas of credentialed health officials and scientists, many Americans still believe wearing a face mask does not help curb the spread of coronavirus, or worse, will actually make them sick. But perhaps skeptical Americans might be more willing to listen if they were getting their message from somebody with a little more charisma.
Somebody like Bill Nye the Science Guy.
If that's the case, they're in luck. On Wednesday night, Nye uploaded two videos to TikTok that outlined the importance of face masks, using the "Consider the Following" format he popularized on Bill Nye the Science Guy. Face masks, Nye explains, prevent participles from our respiratory systems from getting into the air and entering other people’s respiratory systems.
Nye first demonstrates this principle by attempting to blow out a candle while wearing different types of face coverings. He starts with a scarf, which offers minimal coverage and allows him to blow out the candle easily. However, when he wears a homemade face mask that includes two layers of cloth and a pipe cleaner to keep it flush against his nose, he’s unable to extinguish the flame.
In a second video, Nye demonstrates the effectiveness of a medical-grade N95 mask, which filters at least 95% of airborne particles. When he tries to blow out the candle through the N95, the flame doesn’t even flicker.
“So the reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect you, sure,” Nye concludes. “But the main reason we want you to wear a mask is to protect me from you, and the particles from your respiratory system from getting into my respiratory system. Everybody, this is a matter, literally, of life and death.”
TikTok says it removed around 49 million videos globally during the second half of last year and received 100 requests from the U.S. government for information about accounts.
Of the approximately 49 million videos that were removed across the globe, around 4.6 million of them were within the United States. The report covers actions taken between July 1 to December 31 of last year.
The videos violated TikTok's community guidelines and terms of service.
Overall, TikTok said 25.5% were removed because of adult nudity and sexual activities, 24.8% were removed for "depicting harmful, dangerous, or illegal behavior by minors," 21.5% showed illegal activities, 15.6% violated suicide, and self-harm policies, 8.6% showed violent and graphic content, 3% violated the company's harassment policy, and less than 1% were removed for violating its hate speech, integrity and authenticity, and dangerous individuals policies.
The company also shared data on how it responded to requests for information it received from law enforcement and government agencies.
The most requests came from India, but the United States made the second most requests. TikTok was banned in India last month.
In total, the U.S. made 100 requests for information, and TikTok complied with 82 of them, the company said.
Similarly, TikTok outlined requests it received from the government for the removal of content. The U.S. requested that one account be removed, which TikTok complied with.
TikTok told the Daily Dot it did not have any additional details to share beyond what is in its report.
While TikTok has soared in popularity, it has faced significant push back from the U.S. government.
Scrolling through cottagecore TikTok is at once calming and strange: There are scenes of lush fruit trees, pressed flowers, and houses with big windows and natural light. It's aesthetically pleasing. It's also fantasy-scrolling.
What is cottagecore TikTok?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cg-mmvn228
Cottagecore was popularized as an aesthetic on Tumblr, using pastoral landscapes and naturalistic set pieces to convey a sense of calm and domesticity. A cottagecore subreddit has been around since 2018. There's a focus on crafting, cooking, gardening. Mushrooms and frogs are totems. But on TikTok, a dizzying platform of aesthetics and identities, cottagecore has become more of a community.
“I've seen cottagecore evolve past an aesthetic, and into a framework that Gen Z teens use to develop their own social and political identities,” says Biz Sherbert, a writer who analyzes fashion trends on TikTok. “Cottagecore has a whole set of values that are actually pretty radical and nuanced. A lot of people call cottagecore anti-capitalist, and while it definitely is in some ways, it's also a lot more intersectional and complex than that.”
While, outwardly, cottagecore might seem a bit like playing house, it serves a more important purpose for the queer community. As noted in a February article for Vice, it’s a way to reclaim historically hetero or domestic spaces, and rural areas where the LGBTQ community hasn’t traditionally been accepted. The term is most often applied to lesbian or “alt” TikTok, a space where it’s less about the popular stars and dances and more about subcultures. Cottagecore also illustrates the many side roads of alt TikTok: A teen raising tadpoles in her backyard could be cottagecore, or an extension of frog TikTok. The TikTok witch community could be cottagecore, but also fairycore or dark academia.
There’s been mainstream attention: In March, cottagecore was featured in theNew York Times Style section, where one woman described it as a real-life Animal Crossing, though it has since become popular in Animal Crossing, as well as Minecraft. Recreating Harry Styles’ cardigan became a crafting challenge. “Cottagecore is probably the second Gen Z-dominant, social media-based subculture to ever reach that level of cultural awareness,” says Sherbert. “The first was the e-girl/e-boy subculture.”
But for many people, cottagecore is less about aesthetic and more about relationships—both personal and with nature. There is of course something alluring about the idea of remote and self-sustaining living, especially in the midst of a pandemic, when the supply chain is unstable and evictions and unemployment are up. Growing our own food could become a necessity, but that’s also not something a lot of Americans are physically or financially equipped for. Still, there are people educating about ways to utilize land and self more efficiently.
Cottagecore is more of a fantasy of what self-sufficiency could look like. It’s also a very white space, which has sparked debate around recognizing privilege and the history of colonialism in relation to getting “back to nature.” There’s been an effort to correct the idea that cottagecore is only for white women. Paula Sutton, who documents life at her picturesque British enclave Hill House, became popular on Instagram for her eye for interior design and fashion. She also apparently made a white writer publicly quit Instagram, ostensibly because a Black woman living that kind of joyful countryside existence didn’t square with her worldview.
Perhaps one of the more tangible ideas that’s evolved out of cottagecore is that it’s good for mental health and that young people are looking to get away from the noise and negativity of online spaces.
“I think Gen Z has a deeper understanding of how destructive and unhealthy being online all the time is than they get credit for,” Sherbert says. She points out that the subculture encourages activities that "require mindfulness." Of course, cottagecore still exists if it’s not documented, but it needs its medium: “As much as cottagecore encourages offline living, it was born online and it still lives there.”
President Donald Trump's official app is being flooded with bad reviews on Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, and it appears the deluge of critical comments are coming from TikTok users.
As of Friday morning, the Official Trump 2020 App had a 1.1. star review on Google's Play Store, with more than 48,000 people leaving reviews.
Hundreds of the one-star reviews have been left over the past few days.
The same situation played out on Apple's App Store. On Friday morning the app had a 1.2-star review, with 269,000 leaving reviews.
Many of the reviews criticize the app asking for personal information—something the Trump campaign has touted as it tries to collect data on voters ahead of the election.
Bloomberg, which first reported on the flood of negative reviews, noted that popular TikTok user DeJuan Booker called on his followers to leave the bad reviews.
Booker, who goes by @unusualbeing, said in a video on Thursday that "Gen Z is not going to out without a fight" and said the goal of the mass-negative reviews seems to be to get the app de-listed from the App Store.
On Wednesday, Booker posted a step-by-step video showing his followers how to leave reviews. The video was viewed 2.5 million times.
However, as Bloomberg notes, flooding the app with negative reviews may not have the effect they hope. Apple does not delete apps based on the reviews, the news outlet reported.
Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesperson, told Axios: "TikTok users don't affect anything we do."
This isn't the first time TikTok users have messed with the Trump campaign.
Ahead of his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in late June, TikTokers mass-registered for the event, making the campaign believe more people were intending on coming than actually were. Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, bragged about the sign-ups ahead of the rally.
In reality, only a little over 6,000 people attended the rally. The Trump campaign dismissed the prank afterward.
Essentially, they would go to the online store, fill up their carts with merchandise they have no intention of buying, and leave the campaign with incorrect data.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed that the Trump administration is considering a ban on TikTok earlier this week. Meanwhile, Amazon has ordered its employees to remove the app from their phones, citing "security risks," according to the New York Times.
The announcement from Pompeo came as both sides of Congress have called for a national security investigation into the app and any potential ties with the Chinese government, while other data privacy concerns have been raised over the past year.
But Pompeo—and even President Donald Trump's remarks about it—have many of the millions of monthly users in the U.S. wondering if the ban will actually happen. Popular creators on the app are already posting goodbye videos.
"With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right too," Pompeo said of the ban. "I don’t want to get out in front of the president, but it’s something we’re looking at."
It is the most recent jab the U.S. has taken against China as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. TikTok, under it's China-based parent company of ByteDance, would not be the first Chinese-based technology company to face sanctions in the U.S..
Telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE are similarly accused of sharing information with China.
Pompeo's comment also comes months into the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) investigation of TikTok launched last November. CFIUS has yet to release its determination.
This is what we know about Trump's TikTok ban and if it could actually happen.
Can Trump ban TikTok?
Banning TikTok is possible as seen in India. There, the app was blocked at network level which severs communication from TikTok servers to users.
But the U.S. is a different situation.
TikTok could face similar sanctions as Huawei and ZTE. The administration is finalizing a plan to bar the U.S. government from buying Huawei and ZTE products, according to Reuters.
A consumer wide ban would take place in app stores—however, Kurt Opsahl, the general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told CNET there is no law that would authorize the federal government to ban an American from using an app.
One potential way to get toward a ban would be having the the Commerce Department add TikTok to what is called the "entity list." It is a list of foreign people, organizations and businesses that are required to obtain specific licenses in order to export into the U.S.
But, the Trump administration would have to prove that TikTok participated in "trade violations or espionage or proliferation or intellectual property theft" to get onto the list, James Lewis, director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Verge. Lewis toldthe news outlet that getting onto the entity list is not easy.
Meanwhile, courts have found that publishing and using code—the heart of TikTok—can be subject to the First Amendment, as Fortune notes.
Why TikTok?
The major concern surrounding TikTok is that user information and content is susceptible to the reach of the Chinese government.
TikTok collects search history, cookies, users’ IP address, unique device identifiers, browsing, and geolocation-related data, which is common among many social media sites.
Experts are concerned that the Chinese government has access to this information as TikTok's parent company is based in Beijing.
Yet, TikTok maintains that U.S. data is not held in China nor do they share information with the government.
"TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users," a spokesperson for TikTok told the Daily Dot. "We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked."
China's reach over the company was questioned again when anti-China content was seemingly blocked from the platform. The app was accused of deleting content from the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year.
It was another allegation that TikTok denied participation in.
To combat its widespread criticism, TikTok announced it was launching a Transparency Center. The move is to allow outside experts to examine their practices and hopefully clear their name.
Perhaps more cynically, TikTok has become a platform that has trolled the president several times in recent weeks—perhaps making the administration more aware of the other issues that have been brought up in the past.
Even if the allegations were true, most social media platforms participate in data sharing practices.
Google has been sharing location histories with the police since 2016. Geofence warrants allow law enforcement to identify cell phones in a specific place and time. Also, let's not forget Facebook.
Many TikTok users have pointed out that other social media companies collect vast amounts of information while decrying the potential ban on Twitter.
"Everything collects data. Google collects data. Facebook and Twitter collect data. ZOOM LITERALLY SPIED ON CHILDREN but TIKTOK IS AN ISSUE?" one person tweeted.
"facebook: exists the government: we gotta ban tiktok they‘re stealing people's info," another added.
Who wants a TikTok ban?
The national security investigation against TikTok earned bipartisan support last November. There have also been bills proposed that target TikTok specifically.
But, the U.S. is not alone. Australia is also considering a similar ban according to the Guardian.
While the government has set its sights on TikTok, users certainly do not want to see the app banned.
That was readily apparent on Thursday when TikTok glitched and every video appeared to have zero likes.
TikTokers thought the end was near.
"everybody coming to twitter because their tik toks have 0 views #tiktokban," one person tweeted.
"Us: they won’t ban tiktok in the US lmao no way TikTok: 0 views, fucked up fyp 0 likes #tiktokdown," another person added.
TikTok assured that the error was just a glitch and not a ban—yet.
A meme meant for transgender and nonbinary people is being mocked on TikTok by cisgender people (people whose gender identity corresponds with their assigned gender at birth), according to Know Your Meme. The trend involves people sharing their deadnames and former pronouns as Grace VanderWaal's “I Don’t Know My Name” plays in the background.
When she sings, “I now know my name,” people show their chosen names and pronouns. But cisgender are using the trend to announce fake pronouns.
The origins of the meme remains a mystery, but according to Know Your Meme, the earliest adaptation of this trend was from user @meh.its__ehh in November 2018, whose video accumulated 73,000 likes in two years. Users @graysansom and @sethxavier98 followed the trend, garnering over 143,000 and 81,000 likes, respectively.
On Feb. 22, user @sarwilson posted a new version of this trend. She used the same audio and had pictures of herself with her name and her pronouns, but at the climax, she announced her pronouns were “Sto/ner” and donned a baggy sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, and a backward cap. The video, which was posted in February, amassed over 1 million likes and 8 eight million views.
As the trend continued to be overhauled by cisgender people, users on TikTok and Twitter denounced the cisgender people participating in the trend.
“To all the people using the ‘I now know my name’ sound on TikTok, you aren't funny,” Twitter user @leathenerddtweeted on June 5, “it isn't a clever joke. People have died for being trans so stop making everything about you.”
Even outside the meme, cisgender people too often appropriate pronoun discussions at the expense of transgender and nonbinary people.
On April 21, user @damexpatr tweeted, “I blocked a cis person for saying ‘my pronouns are that/bitch’ no [you’re] cis and your pronouns are mad/annoying.”
A video showing the alleged living conditions of suspected coronavirus patients in the U.S. military is raising questions after going viral online.
Footage originally posted to TikTok shows what appears to be a soldier laying on a cot outside after purportedly experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
The clip quickly spread across social media, garnering over 3 million views from just one post on Twitter alone.
According to the video's author, a TikTok user known as "mr.buttersworth69," soldiers at the Fort Hood military post in Texas are being quarantined in the field for prolonged periods.
"Here's what we got our boys doing that are on quarantine in the field," he says. "If you got any symptoms, they don't send you home or to the hospital; they quarantine you behind some tape, on a cot, with a mask, and a little fucking sign for two damn weeks."
Users on Twitter expressed shock at the alleged treatment of the country's armed forces.
"Respect the troops? Not even the military respects the troops," @TheKing_Duh said.
Not long after going viral, the original TikTok video was removed. As users questioned the video's legitimacy, mr.buttersworth69 stated in comments on his profile that the video was in fact real but that he "had to take it down."
But officials at Fort Hood say the video falsely portrays the reality on the ground.
Speaking with the Daily Dot, 1st Calvary Division Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Brautigam asserted that "the video does not represent our unit's COVID-19 mitigation policy or procedures."
Brautigam added that the soldier seen laying on the cot "was not COVID-19 positive" and had never even been seen "for COVID-19 related symptoms."
"This does not accurately represent the situation or the care and concern this unit has for the health, welfare, and wellbeing of our Troopers or their families," Brautigam said.
When asked about Fort Hood's coronavirus policies, Brautigam pushed back on the video's claims that quarantined soldiers would be kept outside for an extended period.
"No COVID positive Soldiers will go to the field or remain in the field," Brautigam said.
If a soldier presents symptoms while in the field, a medical provider will first come to them to determine whether a test is needed.
"If a Trooper requires a test, they will travel to a medical facility for that testing and that crew will quarantine pending the results of the test," Brautigam said.
Soldiers who do test positive will not remain in the field, Brautigam continued, but will instead be isolated either at home or in the barracks while their units begin contact tracing procedures.
TikTokers have found creative and humorous ways to bring back Twilight, Mean Girls, and now, the Hunger Games. TikTokers are absolutely roasting themselves making videos about how they would, or more likely wouldn't, survive the Hunger Games.
The original post was created by TikTok user @codeinebabi, who posted a video of "the gays and girls alliance" during the games. The TikTokers said they were "dead*ss hungry" and laughed when a cannon went off, which signals a tribute's death.
The trend took off and other TikTokers used the sound to show how they would act in the Hunger Games, and why many of them wouldn't last.
TikTok user Garrett Daniels posted a video of himself running back to the cornucopia for his Starbucks while yelling "I'm lost" at the sky and getting grossed out trying to eat grass.
A 9-year-old boy in Atlanta is expected to recover after undergoing surgery to remove bullets that struck him while he was filming TikTok videos Wednesday.
The boy, Javonni Carson, was hit four times in a seemingly random drive-by shooting while filming the videos with his two older siblings. In addition to removing the bullets, surgeons also worked to repair Carson’s femur, which was shattered in the incident.
His mother, Keyona Carson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitutionher oldest son, 11, tried to crawl over to Javonni after the shooting broke out but was unable to reach him.
The Carson family set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Javonni’s recovery. In the page’s description, Keyona Carson writes that her son is an honor roll student with a “magnetic” personality and aspired to become a rapper or football player. She also asked the public to think of the wellbeing of her other kids, saying they were traumatized from watching their brother get shot.
“I have 2 more children,” the description reads. “They were there also, they saw all those guns, blood … the fire of those bullets as people fell in front of them and hid and ran and screamed for help.”
Other bystanders who were injured include a man who was shot in the hand and a man who was shot in the backside.
Gaja Korean Bar, a local restaurant, said its security cameras captured footage of the shooting. The restaurant announced on Instagram it was shortening its hours the day after the incident to “ensure the safety of staff and patrons.”
“Tonight we will shortening our service from 5-9pm,” Gaja said in the caption. “After the tragic events of last night we will work hard to ensure the safety of our staff and patrons. East Atlanta is our home, we won’t give up on it. We’ll get through this together. Love, Gaja.”
So far, the GoFundMe for Javonni Carson has raised $7,463 of its $20,000 goal in just three days.
Can Trump really ban TikTok? It's a question users are wrestling with in the wake of last week's news that the administration is "looking at" a possible ban of the Chinese-owned app, allegedly due to national security concerns and definitely not because Trump's Tulsa rally and online store were trolled via TikTok.
A U.S. ban of TikTok would be complicated, and this administration isn't great with follow through. But users are taking another route to try to persuade it to not follow through. The 2006 song "Me & U" by Cassie has been circulating on TikTok for a while but it's now being applied to a series of "seduction" videos aimed at appealing to Trump's raging narcissism.
Before talk of a ban, people were using the song to try to draw out anotherstimulus check.
The #SaveTikTok hashtag started circulating last week, as users voiced more genuine concerns about what would happen if the app was banned. Michael Le posted an impassioned video about how TikTok has created a community and allowed users to support themselves, especially during the pandemic, something echoed by other young users. It has also become an important platform for activism.
Other users posted their own "memory lane" videos, looking back at TikTok predecessors Vine and Musical.ly. While there's been talk of a possible exodus to Byte, the "new" version of Vine, the reviews haven't been great. Alli Fitz's strongly worded letter to the government pointed out the absurdity of the situation, though many bigger creators have already started dropping Instagram and YouTube handles just in case.
If a ban actually happens it will be surprising. Still, the company has been trying to center itself as an American entity, telling the Daily Beast that despite its Chinese parent company, "TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S." There are also conservative teens on the app. Maybe just tell Trump that TikTok has been cake this whole time?
Tina Turtle, who rose to prominence on TikTok with her viral “work bae” videos, is distancing herself from the coworker she features in them.
"Idk what it is, but hearing a non-black person opinion rn IS NOT IT. Stay silent or help by donating or signing petitions bc whew y’all privileged is showing," Turtle tweeted at the end of May.
While Turtle didn't reference who she was alluding to, she mentioned her "work bae," Mitch, by name in a follow-up tweet.
"And y’all go head and cancel Mitch," she wrote.
A viral tweet on Monday is highlighting the work bae drama. It features a screenshot of the video that started the work bae saga and the screenshots of Turtle's tweets. Turtle urged fans to "cancel Mitch" at the end of May, however, many are just now finding out about the rift due to @THONGSONGREMIXX's viral tweet.
"Welp," Twitter user @THONGSONGREMIXX wrote along with the screenshots.
Turtle responded to @THONGSONGREMIXX's tweet by saying she and Mitch weren't the "best of friends" in the first place and that she only knew him from work.
"I just ain’t like how tweeted such a distasteful / tone-death tweet during a sensative time. And people kept tagging me. I said what I said to him and life goes on lol Face with tears of joy ain’t the end of the world," she wrote.
It's unclear which tweet Turtle is referencing, but some are pointing to a social media post by Mitch featuring a black cat and white dog. "These two can get along why can't the rest of us?" he captioned the image.
In a TikTok video, which was posted on the same day in May that Turtle denounced Mitch, she also alluded to him not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
"A lot of people are showing me their true colors. At a time like this—it's just so crazy how you look at someone differently," she says. "If you are not supporting Black Lives Matter, you are not supporting me, or anyone you know that's Black. I'm a little sad 'cause I had to cut a few people off who were deciding that they didn't want to speak on it."
In the comments section of the video, Turtle liked and responded to several users who mentioned Mitch directly.
In response to one fan, who wrote, "you MADE him sis, he’s cancelled now," Turtle said that she wants to leak text messages between her and Mitch "so bad" but is refraining because she's "not petty." She said in a follow-up that he was being "ignorant" via text and refused to remove the meme in question because he "didn't want to be silenced."
Poor Gen Z. They didn’t ask to inherit this world, yet they will ultimately be the ones who have to reckon with it. Teens, like many people, have faced a slew of obstacles and hardships amid the coronavirus pandemic, forcing them to devise crafty solutions.
But the pandemic might have made some hurdles easier to overcome. Namely, scoring booze.
Gen Z-ers have been taking advantage of nationwide mask mandates to buy alcohol without having their fake IDs scrutinized. Some have gone even further by disguising themselves as grandmas with wigs, makeup, and a tasteful cardigan or sweater. After all, what liquor store clerk would ask an elderly woman to take off her mask in the middle of a pandemic to verify that her face perfectly matches the one on her license?
The stunt has become a TikTok phenomenon, with faux-grandmas racking up millions of views. TikToker @aamandaward specifically advised enterprising teens to keep their masks on while making their purchases.
"PSA: use ur fakes as much as possible rn bc if you wear a mask they can’t see ur whole face lol,” she wrote in her video.
Several lit grandma videos have gone viral on TikTok. A July 4 post from @claare__18 shows her rocking an elderly woman latex face mask (along with her medical face mask), head scarf, and age-appropriate attire to buy alcohol at 7-Eleven—and then cuts to her twerking with her friends on the side of the road.
In another video by @angelinaleavitt, her friend @abimosher puts her hair and makeup skills to the test and successfully picks up several bottles of wine with her granny disguise. Similarly, the video cuts to her twerking on the side of the road in celebration. (Is this part of the challenge, or just coincidence?)
We're now suspicious that literally anything can be cake. But on TikTok, a cake dance preceded our collective paranoia and exhaustion.
As detailed by Know Your Meme, the All About Cake dance originated in May and uses kyleyoumadethat's mashup of Playboi Carti's "Cake" and Rihanna's "Birthday Cake," which originally soundtracked a video about actual cakes. User mehki created a new dance for it in late May, with the caption "doing this dance every day until it goes VIRAL!"
In June, popular creators like Charli D'Amelio and Addison Rae attempted the dance. In early July, Lizzo stepped in. The audio has now been used in more than 6.7 million videos.
While most of the All About Cake videos include the dance, at least one involved a woman apparently discovering she's been using her grandmother's ashes to hold up her phone.
Three teens were hospitalized after overdosing on Benadryl in May. They saw TikTok videos encouraging them to take the allergy medicine to get high and hallucinate, according to CBS DFW.
Cook Children’s Medical Center posted a blog on Tuesday about the hospitalizations, warning parents of the dangers of content featured on the app and the possible side effects of a Benadryl overdose.
“Too much diphenhydramine can cause a high heart rate and trigger arrhythmias,” Amber Jewison, a hospitalist nurse practitioner at Cook Children’s Medical Center, said in the blog post. “It can also cause hallucinations, seizures and require a catheter to drain urine from the bladder due to not being able to urinate.”
Another dangerous challenge, the blog post said, is the nutmeg challenge, where users are encouraged to drink two to four tablespoons of nutmeg with milk or water.
“The objective is to get high from the large amount of the spice, but doing this can have detrimental effects on the body,” according to the blog post, adding that the American Association for Clinical Chemistry says some high amounts of the spice can result in a coma or death.
Videos of the nutmeg challenge appear to have been taken down, and few are still available under the #nutmegchallenge on TikTok.
#Benadryl currently has 5.3 million views, and some show teens doing the challenge or offering what they claim is a safe way to complete it. Other videos in the hashtag offer jokes about allergies or drowsiness. People are also advising users not to take Benadryl for non-medicinal purposes.
A hostess in New York City is going viral for ranking how celebrities acted as customers on TikTok. While some celebrities like Beyoncé, Nick Jonas, and the Hadid sisters received stellar ratings, Kylie Jenner only received a 2/10 for leaving a poor tip.
"She was fine, but she tipped $20 on a $500 dinner bill. Do with that information what you will," TikTok user Julia Carolann said.
Carolann followed up with a part two and rated older sister Kendall Jenner. Kendall fared better than Kylie but still only received a 4/10 rating.
"This is another one where I, unfortunately, did not have the best experience with them," Carolann said. "[Kendall] used to come in all the time and was pretty cold towards staff. She also usually has someone speak for her and doesn't speak directly towards staff. I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she's just shy."
A vial video shows a woman coming up to a TikToker and telling her to put on some shorts because her sons were "staring at her a**."
The TikToker, Aurea Miranda, was filming dance videos in a bikini when the woman approached her. She posted the interaction on Instagram and TikTok, where it went viral.
"You see that group of boys over there? Those are my boys," the mother says in the video. "They're staring at your a**, which is hanging out in the middle of a public place."
At this point, Miranda stays quiet. The mother then asks the TikToker if she needs some shorts. Miranda asks what the mother means by that.
"I mean get your a** covered. That's what I mean," the mother says
Then Miranda asks if there's a rule that details that she's not able to wear a bikini at the public beach.
"Yeah, there is. It's called nudity. You can't be nude at a beach. This is a public place," the mother shoots back.
Miranda says "alright" and that she'll ask the workers about her bikini. The mother then walks away from the TikToker, who has since posted pictures and videos of herself to show what she looked like when the mother approached.
The bikini pictures have prompted some social media users to debate the size of the bathing suit and whether or not her clothes were appropriate.
But the vast majority of comments on the TikTok are in support of Miranda.
Those commenters quickly dubbed the mother "Karen." Social media users give white women this name when they act privileged or racist. TikTok users commented saying that the mother should teach her boys to respect women instead of going on a tirade against Miranda.
A saxophone cover of Chris Brown's "Go Crazy" has become the soundtrack to a TikTok version of "Would You Rather." The cover, which was originally part of the Go Crazy challenge, has been used in more than 50,000 videos. But Know Your Meme points to a July 3 video from nolxve.droxzy as the origin of the "two options" format. Here, it's walk down a scary Slender Man hallway or take your ex back.
There's something soothing about this challenge right now, when control feels fleeting. But the dancing-over-tweets subgenre of TikTok might be part of it, too.
The latest TikTok meme is just a joke to many people, but to some, it's a triggering reminder of childhood sexual abuse.
The meme, which several popular accounts have recently promoted, is a spinoff of boyfriend POV roleplaying TikToks. Most videos reference some sort of encounter with sexual undertones between a mother, father, and child. For example, many videos riff on the idea of kids walking in on "mommy and daddy" having sex.
The trend was apparently popularized by TikToker Jared Jones. Not long after the videos began spreading, many viewers announced they were grossed out and uncomfortable by the "daddy/daughter" subtext of certain TikToks.
A lot of the more popular examples have now been deleted or made private following backlash from viewers, including recording artist Absofacto. His song "Dissolve" appears on a lot of the daddy meme TikToks, and four days ago he asked TikTokers to "rescue it" by using the song for something else instead.
Then yesterday, Absofacto returned with a more serious message. In a tearful video, he said that survivors of childhood sexual abuse had contacted him saying they were triggered by the TikTok meme. He asked people to take down any daddy/daughter POV videos they still had on their accounts, regardless of what song was used in the background.
Absofacto blamed not only the users who refused to delete the videos but also the TikTok security team for not being more proactive.
"These videos hurt people," he said. "Daddy/daughter videos lead to bad stuff on TikTok."
This isn't the first time a TikTok POV trend has been criticized for making light of a serious issue. A few months ago, some TikTokers faced backlash for posting videos from the perspective of domestic abuse victims. The videos did not discuss their own experiences. The videos were essentially roleplaying a domestic violence scenario.
Some argued that they were trying to raise awareness about domestic violence, but plenty of people found the videos triggering or simply counterproductive. Similarly, there was a recent trend where male TikTokers acted out scenes from the POV of "your abusive boyfriend."
There are a lot of photos of Lin-Manuel Miranda biting his lip online. If that unsettles you, proceed with caution, because a lot of young people have become obsessed with the Hamilton actor's obsession with vaguely cringe, front-facing seduction.
You can find some of Miranda's lip-bitingselfies on Twitter, including one from November 2018 where he's dressed in his Hamilton costume. The hit Broadway play recently came to Disney+, which might be why TikTok is obsessed. While some people appear to be falling for whatever it is he's doing in these photos, others were a bit more skeptical.
While there appear to be at least half a dozen LMM LBS out there, the number of newly uncovered photos appears to grow by the day. His merch store is also full of photos of his face, including a $79 framed photo of him holding a sno-cone.
A Texas woman who reportedly said she has “always acted like a puppy” is now garnering more than hundreds of thousands per month through her performance on OnlyFans, after quitting her career as an optician.
Jenna Phillips from Austin, Texas, now pretends to be a dog on OnlyFans, an adult content subscription website, where she runs around fetching balls, rolls around, and takes dog treats, according to her TikTok videos.
The 21-year-old has said that she likes to “roll around, play fetch, get head scratches, run around and play,” according to LADBible, because she always felt like a puppy at heart.
Her monthly income is now 100 times more than her previous income, and she makes six figures, according to the Mirror.
With her content, she has garnered more than 125,000 followers on TikTok, where he bio reads: “just a girl pretending to be a puppy.”
She currently charges her fans $20 per month to access her uncensored content.
“I have always acted like a puppy, but not in a sexual way at first. I used to pretend I was a puppy when I was growing up,” she said. “I really love praise. I love hearing 'good girl.' It makes my heart melt every time.”
When she started her OnlyFans account, the content was “vanilla,” but after almost two years, she began posting as “thatpuppygirl” which is what turned around her business. She said there’s a been “surge” in her following ever since.
She said what made her change her mind about doing vanilla content was that there wasn’t a market for “female puppies" on OnlyFans.
“Whenever I went shopping for the gear, it was only really for men,” she said according to the Mirror. “I thought screw it, why don't I create the market? I know there's a demand for it so why don't I supply it?”
