TikTok has become the site to watch for rising stars, and there’s a relatively new one on the horizon: Elmo O’dwyer.
Many of the internet’s favorite trends and challenges begin on the video-sharing platform. Therefore, it’s not surprising that many of its most popular users expand their reach past TikTok. O’dwyer is no exception.
Here’s everything to know about rising TikTok influencer Elmo O’dwyer.
Who is Elmo O’dwyer on TikTok?
Upon first seeing the phrase “Elmo on TikTok,” most people would likely assume a new meme or trend had started featuring Sesame Street‘s Elmo. In this case, however, we are talking about 19-year-old Elmo O’dwyer. His lip-syncing TikToks have escalated him to widespread popularity.
O’dwyer is based in London, England, and has translated his TikTok fame into large Instagram and Twitter followings. He currently has 3.1 million TikTok followers, more than 25,000 Twitter followers, and, between two separate accounts, nearly 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
O’dwyer did not respond to a request to comment before publication.
The majority of O’dwyer’s TikToks follow the tried-and-true TikTok formula. They feature O’dwyer, typically in a hat but occasionally letting his curly hair fall free, lip-syncing to clips from songs. Sometimes his uploads include his mother. More often, however, O’dwyer’s videos are simple. He makes sultry faces at the camera, bites his lip, and mouths along to songs.
Background
A large part of O’dwyer’s popularity on both Instagram and TikTok seems to come from his sheer appearance. Apologies for the bluntness, but most of the internet’s most popular platforms these days promote physical attractiveness over most anything else, and O’dwyer is certainly leaning into it. To be fair, the majority of TikTok’s most popular accounts feature strikingly attractive people dressed in as little as possible. Clearly, it’s what the people want.
Unfortunately for the hopeful people out there, O’dwyer appears to be taken. Based on posts to both his Instagram and Twitter pages, O’dwyer is currently in a relationship with fellow TikToker Hannah Rylee.
1 year anniversary today - the time flew by so fast. I love you Hannah
Not much else is known about O’dwyer, who is nearing the end of his teenage years. If his upward momentum continues on its current trend, however, it seems likely he will remain in the spotlight.
It’s a question TikTok user Dylan Evans asks after watching 15-year-old Charli D’Amelio awkwardly shift in a YouTube video about her upcoming meet and greet. D’Amelio is known on TikTok for something a lot of users do: dancing and lip-syncing. She has more than 10 million followers; more than 5 million of those followers happened over the last few months. NBC profiled her. She was invited to dance onstage with Bebe Rexha. She marked an inevitable shift: the TikTok “star.”
In an interview with Mel, she said she’s not quite sure what happened either: “I’m just doing what I do every day and posting it, I guess. It’s very insane to me, as it is for everyone else watching.”
While Evans’ response is (likely) meant in jest, “What have you all done?” is kind of a fitting question for what happened on TikTok this year. In 2019, TikTok cycled through and evolved memes and trends at an astounding pace, and got more political as well. Subcultures reformed on TikTok; it became a launching pad for under-the-radar musicians. More celebrities and brands showed up, but it didn’t feel overrun.
It probably will soon. TikTok has now been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times. In early December, TikTok released its top 100, a rundown of the most popular personalities, memes, and trends on the platform in 2019. In the “breakout creators” category, D’Amelio was at No. 5. This might seem dubious, but the speed at which content or users go viral is different on TikTok than other platforms, and its scale dictates that it’s going to have to lose some of its (perceived) intimacy.
The off-platform siphoning has already started: Popular TikTokker Noen Eubanks is now modeling for Celine; Brittany Tomlinson, also known as “Kombucha girl,” was cast in The Reality House and beamed into international airports. There are TikTok meet and greets, much like there were for Vine and Musical.ly stars. D’Amelio did one last month in Norwalk, Connecticut, and charged $100 for a photo; she had to address the fee on TikTok after some backlash, clarifying that the money went to charity.
D’Amelio rose to popularity for videos that are simple and somewhat cringey, but that’s been the baseline for a while: Everyday people, some with very few followers, creating content and sending it out into the void. Some of it is bad; some of it is inspired. Though D’Amelio’s ascent was frustrating for some users who were also trying to get noticed, or just didn’t understand the appeal, her videos were ripe for parody. The YouTube post that Evans reacted to has become a meme.
In the wake of her ascent, Alex French, a user also known for dancing and lip-sync videos, hit 1 million followers seemingly overnight, and a video of her literally just saying “Hi” was one of her most popular. (She now has more than 2 million followers.) It helps that they’re both pretty girls who seem to be positive influences, but TikTok also admitted to blocking LGBTQ and disabled creators from the For You page over fears of harassment, which calls into question how much other content has been suppressed.
Still, users found creative ways to address the hype. In one popular video, 20-year-old Hannah Johnson used a basketball as a visual metaphor, asking that anyone who saw the video on their For You page—TikTok’s stand-in for a chronological feed—pass the “hype ball” to get it more evenly spread out, and duet with it to keep it going. It was an experiment in hype for all.
Johnson, a sophomore at the University of Maine, tells the Daily Dot that thousands of people did just that. The video has more than 4 million views and brought out more gripes about how TikTok elevates certain people. But it also showed how issues with the app can be turned into content.
“I honestly thought it was going to get taken down or flop since I was calling TikTok out for clearly pushing some agenda,” she says. Instead, she saw her own surge of followers and likes.
“There was no premeditated formula that I used to create that video,” Johnson says. “That video was the most half-assed, simple concept I have ever created, but it was real and relatable.”
Over the last few months, there’s been a significant increase in verified accounts on the For You page, a mood board of what people are watching and what TikTok thinks you want to see. It’s also one of the main ways users can get noticed and pick up followers—and why so many videos are tagged with #fyp or #foryoupage. “Don’t let this flop” is a common caption, a low-key call for support from your peers. But how videos end up on the For You page is something the company hasn’t been forthcoming about. Even though I’ve never sought out or clicked on any content related to Barstool Sports, its blue-checked feed now shows up in mine. There’s also been a noticeable increase in videos from Trump 2020 accounts on the For You page.
There’s no clear path for making a video that will hit on TikTok, though there are plenty of “hacks” and tutorials online. There are one-click offers to become “TikTok famous” and get more followers, but they might just give you a virus. More tangible are TikTok clubs that have sprung up in high schools, in which students collaborate with each other—and teachers—and workshop videos.
TikTok’s scale could signal that the weirdness that made the app so engaging might be watered down. (I recently lost an hour scrolling through videos of people using the same fart sound.) How people go viral on TikTok is still a mystery to Johnson, but she has her own devoted following that checks in with her live-streams and posts, which has helped in her transition to college life. At her summer job, a lot of the younger patrons talk about wanting to become influencers, but she also sees the divide between the influencer lifestyle presented to the internet and the reality of what goes into maintaining that life.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be an influencer,” Johnson says, “but do not think for one minute that it is more important than being a doctor, or a lawyer, or a teacher, because without them those influencers wouldn’t have made it.”
When Vine stars tried to leverage pay for their content, the company shrugged and sealed its fate. This feels like a similar tipping point, but TikTok has a framework in place: It debuted the creator marketplace in September for brands to reach potential collaborators. Johnson says she’s had brands reach out to her to collaborate and is now an ambassador for card game What Do You Meme?
She isn’t sure how long she’ll be on TikTok, but she’s optimistic about the future.
“Who knows?” she says. “Maybe I will end up just deleting this app and becoming a doctor. Then every now and then I will get stopped at the grocery store with my husband and kids and they’ll ask me if I was that girl from TikTok that dressed as Jesus while baptizing someone in the tub.”
The United States Army is following another branch of the armed forces by not allowing TikTok, the popular app, to be downloaded on government-issued phones.
The app is considered a “cyber threat,” Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa told Military.com earlier this week, adding that they “do not allow it on government phones.”
Ochoa told the news outlet that the Army began telling soldiers not to use the app on their government phones starting in mid-December.
In November, the Army said it was assessing the security of the app following concerns raised by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who asked officials to see if there were security risks with using the app to try and recruit teenagers.
The app, which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, has repeatedly claimed that it has data centers that are located outside of China, amid concerns from lawmakers that the data of U.S. citizens could get into the hands of the Chinese government.
While TikTok is not inherently full of teens and zoomers, its users certainly skew young. And they are doing whatever they can to shake the stereotype that the youth aren’t politically motivated heading into 2020, using one of social media’s fastest-growing apps to speak their minds in extremely catchy ways.
In the process, they are taking down various 2020 Dems along the way.
The TikTok teens previously set their sights on Mayor Pete Buttigieg, attacking him for bland centrism, lack of support among the Black community, and absurd dances.
Now, they have a message for the electorate at large: Please don’t make them vote for Joe Biden.
An extremely grating tune by @bigtiddiehorsegf matches how the young feel about the possibility of heading to the polls in November with Biden as the nominee.
Biden, at 77, is one of the older candidates seeking the nomination. But it’s not just an age thing. It’s that he’s running on a restoration of an era that most people don’t recall too fondly. That’s apparently truer if you are a teen/young adult who didn’t process the contrast between George Bush and Barack Obama that helped make the Obama era seem so placid and inimitable to many.
Which is to say they don’t get the charm of rolling it back. Alongside a great number of policy proposals that are essentially “do what we did then,” Biden is, in many users’ minds, offering them a return to a time that didn’t do anything for them.
Videos set to the tune have racked up nearly a half-million views spread across the site as others have endorsed the sentiment.
The TikTok stars are here, and the Hype House is one of their new content hubs.
As detailed by the New York Times’ Taylor Lorenz, Hype House is the name for the Los Angeles mansion where 19 TikTok stars live and create. It’s a new take on the YouTube and Vine collab houses that popped up over the last five or six years, like Jake Paul’s Team 10 for YouTube creators. Thomas Petrou, a former Team 10 member, is the “default den mother” of Hype House and breakout TikTok star Charli D’Amelio films there as well.
She says the Hype House helped her work through some of the backlash she’s received since blowing up last year.
The Hype House is a Los Angeles mansion for TikTok stars to gather and create. It was formed in December 2019 after Petrou and Chase Hudson leased the residence in November. The Hype House TikTok account has more than 3.6 million followers as of early January 2020. Petrou told the New York Times that there are “probably 100 TikToks made here per day. At minimum.” Videos from the Hype House consist mostly of choreographed dancing.
Who lives in the Hype House?
Along with Petrou, Alex Warren, Daisy Keech, and Kouvr Annon live full-time at the Hype House. Chase Hudson, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Addison Rae, Bryce Hall, Nick Austin, James Wright, Tayler Holder, Calvin Goldby, Avani Gregg, Connor Yates, Ryland Storms, Patrick Huston, Wyatt Xavier, Ondreaz Lopez, and Tony Lopez also create there.
Are there other TikTok houses?
According to the New York Times report, six TikTok stars have organized the Sway House in Bel Air. Cabin Six, an LGBTQ collective, and the University of Diversity are also planning Los Angeles takeovers.
Netflix’s stalker drama You has inspired endless social media reactions since it first migrated to the streaming service in late 2018. Previously, we saw women pleading with the show’s star, Penn Badgley, to stalk them. Now, with the release of season two, we’ve got a new TikTok POV meme inspired by the show.
This new meme features a voice-over from the show (“I just need to know who you really are,” implores Badgley’s murderous stalker character, Joe Goldberg) over a You-inspired slideshow of different photos, often accompanied by text explaining these teens’ own forays into light stalking.
But others do get a little bit more…intense.
And some took it to a whole other level, because this is the internet, and it’s what we do.
And at least one user pointed out that it’s Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl who would ultimately have the most on-point You-inspired TikTok meme if we’re being honest.
But social media is so often about making sure people don’t feel isolated and alone, and it’s great that You has given teens on TikTok a character they can not only relate to, but be inspired by.
Code for a potential deepfake function was found within TikTok and a sister-app in China, according to a new report.
TechCrunch reports that Israeli research firm Watchful.ai found code for the feature, called Face Swap, in the code for TikTok and Douyin. A deepfake is when a person’s face is superimposed over something else to make it appear real.
The feature would essentially let users scan their face (a way to validate that it is you using the feature and not someone who doesn’t want their face in a fake video), and then put it into videos that ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok and Douyin, has the right to use.
The created deepfake would have a watermark on it that would show that it was fake.
A spokesperson for TikTok told TechCrunch that they did not have any plans to introduce the “Face Swap” feature, and then later added that the “inactive code fragments” would be removed from TikTok.
The legacy of Dance Moms lives on. The iconic dance show, which followed Abby Lee Miller and the young dancers of her eponymous dance company, saw its ups and downs over the years. There have been instances of mothers fighting each other, and of course, Miller, verbally attacking both the mothers and her young dancers.
The drama became so much that, for season 7, most of the girls and their mothers walked off the show, leaving Miller and the show to find a whole new set of dancers for its eighth season. But now, one of the former original girls, Brooke Hyland, has reunited with her old dance team on TikTok, though it wasn’t for a dance routine. It was to recreate the moment when her mother Kelly Hyland hit Miller in the face.
The video was reposted to Twitter, where it amassed over 200,000 likes and nearly 40,000 retweets in two days.
The girls, who made a name for themselves on the hit show, have gone on to do big things. Maddie Ziegler, one of Miller’s star dancers, is now known for her work with Sia; Jojo Siwa, whose mother always had disagreements with Abby, is now a teen idol in her own right; and Sioux had a brief stint on Bold and the Beautiful.
TikTokker itsqcp‘s New Jersey persona recently elevated him to overnight fame. Videos of itsqcp aggressively preparing pasta have been making the rounds online, and have seen his follower count grow dramatically. His newfound popularity is at risk, however, after people online unearthed racist videos from the young TikTokker.
It all started with the first episode of The Angry New Jersey Cooking Show. Itsqcp, a North Carolina native, uploaded a simple video of himself, adorned in a white tank and apron, forcefully explaining how to prepare spaghetti and meatballs. After the video, which has nearly 520,000 likes on TikTok, blew up, itsqpc decided to make it an ongoing series.
This really aggressive New Jersey kid cooking pasta is my new TikTok obsession: “Pasta, ya asshole!” pic.twitter.com/Cyiy8pFOn2
The next several entries in The Angry New Jersey Cooking Show followed a similar format. Itsqpc taught his viewers how to prepare fettuccine alfredo, rigatoni alla buttera, and cavatelli over the next several episodes of his series, each with increasing levels of aggression. The videos, in their amusing format, quickly took TikTok by storm. In all, the four episodes racked up nearly 4.5 million likes.
It wasn’t until after itsqcp reached viral status that his older, problematic videos came to light. All things on the internet are immortal, after all, and users quickly began spreading word of racist uploads from the newly minted TikTok star. “So apparently the pasta guy from tiktok is racist,” one user wrote. “Yikes.”
so apparently the pasta guy from tiktok is racist. yikes
A video of itsqcp performing “impressions” started making the rounds, to the dismay of his fans. In the video, itsqcp—notably without a New Jersey accent—impersonates an “angry ghetto girl” and a “ghetto Black man.” As the video spread online, people were quick to jump on his problematic portrayals.
“Whelp, he had a good literal 15 minutes,” one user wrote.
welp, he had a good literal 15 minutes.
— #ProsecuteRihanna // IG: jefmphotography (@SpikeGhost) January 5, 2020
Another exclaimed that he “should’ve just made his pasta and left.”
People were not behind itsqcp’s explanation and urged him to apologize. Unfortunately, his initial half-hearted sentiments didn’t sit well with everyone. “My apologies to who ever is offended,” he wrote. “No bad intentions.”
My apologies to who ever is offended. no bad intentions
The problematic videos didn’t end at one, unfortunately. The longer users searched, the more videos came to light. One user highlighted another upload. This time, itsqcp referred to an Asian woman as “the woman from your nail salon.”
After the video of his impersonations went viral, itsqpc uploaded a new video on Jan. 5, apologizing.
“The impersonations were really exaggerated and honestly offensive,” he said in the video. “I clearly wasn’t thinking that anyone would be offended, and I completely understand why. It was too extreme. Stereotyping is definitely very popular in the comedy world, but it can obviously be taken very offensively and very personal. I’m not racist at all. I don’t know why that one video has to define me like that.”
Im very sorry to everyone I offended from the segment of that one video. It was rude and idiotic. I never meant to harm anyone. pic.twitter.com/KJTJ10Z5Ac
Commenters were split on the apology video. While some people were happy to accept the apology and move on, others felt that it wasn’t enough. “People wanna defend him and people who are not black wanna say ‘its not offensive’ but ignore this disrespect,” one commenter wrote.
had the nerve to say he wasnt thinking ab what he was doing but had the idea to make a tiktok full of stereotypical impersonations. the GALL this boy has
Itsqcp told the Daily Dot in an interview that over the course of more than 500 TikTok uploads, he never had an issue. After the cooking video went viral, his follower count jumped from around 620,000 to more than 1.2 million. “It wasn’t necessarily the key to success,” he said. “But a quick boost for sure.”
“I posted a video doing impersonations of a few different nationalities and races, but it was perceived different than I intended, leaving people offended, which I understand,” he continued. “I had no bad intention and now learned of my mistake, which is to not use stereotypes like those for comedic use.”
He noted that many people have been supportive of his apology, but certainly, not everyone has accepted his explanation.
“Nothing I can do but hope they accept that it was a mistake, and I learned from it. I’m so far from racist, and that’s why I wasn’t even thinking when I posted it,” he said.
The movie has been out for just over two weeks, and most conversations are still dominated by talk of Jedi, Sith Lords and the force. Over the past several weeks, the hype has shifted from Twitter and Instagram to TikTok, where users are basking in the nostalgia of one of cinema’s greatest franchises. TikTok’s Star Wars meme game is strong, and people are noticing.
Lego Star Wars
One of the memes finding new life on TikTok relates to a number of Star Wars Lego games. The games, which have been popular among fans since the first was released in 2005, have a dedicated fan following. Their blend of fun, childish themes with the gripping storylines from Star Wars created a generation of ardent fans. Those fans are now sharing their love through TikTok, where users are changing their profile pictures to characters from the beloved video games.
The trend is getting attention from people on and off of TikTok. “My little sister got 300 new followers on TikTok after changing her profile picture to a Lego Star Wars character,” one user wrote on Twitter.
The trend has gotten so popular that people are even talking about bringing it to other social media sites. “I say we bring the Lego Star Wars profile pictures from TikTok to Twitter,” one user wrote.
my little sister got 300 new followers on tiktok after changing her profile picture to a lego star wars character????
The meme is nearly universal on TikTok, as users from all walks of life jump on the trend. By the end of the week, it may be impossible to find a TikTok user with a non-Lego Star Wars profile picture.
‘Hello there’ meme
Another meme to spawn from TikTok’s new Star Wars obsession reaches all the way back to 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. In one of the film’s scenes, Obi-Wan Kenobi jumps down behind the Separatist Army’s General Grievous and utters a simple, almost surprised “hello there.”
The scene inspired a new batch of TikTok memes, typically featuring people reenacting the scene. The memes are particularly amusing as, in order to properly imitate the many-armed—and multi-lightsaber wielding—Grievous, at least two people are required. The videos of people balanced atop one another’s shoulders, flailing their lightsabers, quickly took the platform by storm.
People when anything in Rise of Skywalker happens: “that’s nice.”
Revenge of the Sith was behind several of TikTok’s current memes. Another scene, toward the end of the film, is also getting the TikTok meme treatment. Just before Obi-Wan and Anakin finally duke it out, they exchange words. A scene that was intended to be heartbreaking is instead often the target of mockery, as Anakin finally falls, completely and utterly, to the Dark Side. Obi-Wan’s genuine anguish at his loss was lost on many viewers, who instead poked fun at the dramatic scene.
TikTok users are rehashing the scene, but with far less contempt than it usually receives. Videos of users reenacting the scene, and in some cases merely appreciating the drama, are all over TikTok. “Real men cried at this part,” one user captioned their video.
Imagine you’ve been accepted to the college of your dreams. Now imagine TikTok has added chorus upon chorus to the happiest day of your life (so far).
If you sift through enough of the weird stuff on TikTok, sometimes you can find something truly heartfelt. Back on Dec. 20, user Mia Tomeo posted a video showing her and her parents reacting to her acceptance to Tulane University. Her father, teary-eyed, chimes in, “No way. There’s no way.” The video has more than 5 million likes.
It’s a pure reaction video. According to Know Your Meme, it also became a template for duets, in which other users took Tomeo’s shocked reaction and paired it with something more comedic, like a guy cleaning up after using the toilet.
Researchers say they found vulnerabilities in TikTok, the popular video app, that could have allowed hackers to access videos and parts of user accounts.
Israel-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Research released a report on their findings today.
The vulnerabilities they found in the app could have allowed hackers to access “hidden” videos, upload videos, delete videos, manipulate content on TikTok accounts, and reveal personal information like email addresses.
Hackers could send users a text message with a malicious link that looked like it was coming from TikTok that would have provided them the ability to take control of a user’s account. They also found that the app’s website was vulnerable to an attack where malicious scripts could be injected.
TikTok learned about Check Point’s findings on Nov. 20 and fixed the vulnerabilities by Dec. 15, according to the New York Times.
“Like many organizations, we encourage responsible security researchers to privately disclose zero-day vulnerabilities to us,” Luke Deshotels, the head of TikTok’s security team, told the Times. “Before public disclosure, Check Point agreed that all reported issues were patched in the latest version of our app. We hope that this successful resolution will encourage future collaboration with security researchers.”
The app, which is owned by China-based company ByteDance, has come under some scrutiny recently, with both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy banning it from government-issued phones, as they consider it a “cyber threat.”
TikTok is a place for cultural expression, but it doesn’t necessarily invite self-awareness. Hence, the recent trend of Crip Walk tutorials.
The Crip Walk is a move that reportedly originated with the Crips gang in Compton decades ago, and it’s essentially a footwork move. Rapper Blueface has made it his calling card; Serena Williams was criticized for doing the move after a win at the 2012 Olympic Games. On TikTok, dance is one of the main attractions, and the majority of the videos under the #CripWalk or #CWalk hashtag are simply users doing the move, soundtracked by Kamaiyah’s “Fuck It Up” featuring YG, who, ironically, is a member of the Bloods.
However, there are also some concerned members of the TikTok community who recognize that a lot of the people in on this trend aren’t actually doing the Crip Walk, and maybe don’t even know its origins. Or its implications.
Open TikTok and the 1st thing I see is a white man in army fatigues crip walking.. in a nice house.. that app gotta go
Former Musical.ly star Paul Zimmer, who disappeared for about 18 months after being accused of defrauding his fans, has reportedly resurfaced with an entirely new identity. He also made a wink and nod from the person he used to be—or still might be.
As reported by YouTuber Danny Gonzalez in a video from last month that has more than 3 million views and the New Statesmanthis week, Zimmer appears to have morphed into a new person named Troy Becker.
“Paul Zimmer was one of Musical.ly’s former biggest stars. [He] disappeared, and now he’s now back,” Gonzalez said in his video. “But he’s pretending that he’s not. He’s pretending to be someone else. He’s pretending that’s he’s just a different dude. He’s really hoping nobody noticed. But guess what? I noticed and so did everyone else.”
In 2017, Zimmer was one of the biggest stars on Musical.ly—which then became TikTok—and boasted 7 million followers. But it all came crashing down when he reportedly began asking for “gifts” from his young fans.
As the New Statesman notes, gifts were “paid-for stickers that users could send to their favorite stars, which transferred the cash value of the gift to that star, from his fans in exchange for favors such as shout-outs in videos, sharing their videos on his page, and sending them personalized DMs thanking them for their donation.”
The hashtag #BanPaulZimmer appeared in April 2017 as people accused him of not keeping up his end of the bargain. They said he took their gifts (i.e., their money) but then didn’t pay them back with shoutouts or DMs like he promised.
That’s when Zimmer vanished, deleting all the content from his Instagram page and YouTube channel.
Last October, though, Zimmer returned to introduce Becker to the world, posting Instagram photos of himself and of who he said was Becker (though it looks exactly like Zimmer). In his caption, Zimmer wrote, “This actor @TroyBeckerIG kid literally looks like a younger sexier version of me. I don’t even use social media anymore but had to post this hahah…”
As reported by the New Statesman, Zimmer returned to Instagram on Dec. 10 and wrote, “IM TELLING YOU HE IS MY YOUNGER BRO” with a crying laughing emoji. Eight days later, Zimmer wrote, “Hey it’s Paul Zimmer, this is prolly gonna be my last social post ever… I have come to a place in my life where being in the spotlight and being an entertainer is no longer my passion… although it deeply saddens me to leave so bluntly, especially that so many of you have watched me for so many years…. I didn’t wanna leave my social media pages just sitting to die… soo I have decided to give my social media accounts to @troybeckerig because he is one of the dopest people I know and he is literally my younger twin my much younger twin I believe Troy is 15 or 16 years old hahaha…”
But other YouTubers have noted that the voices of Zimmer and Becker sound the exact same, and on TikTok, many comments on Becker’s content ruefully refer to him as Zimmer.
“He didn’t even try to look like a different person,” Gonzalez said.
Since these reports have emerged, Zimmer has deleted his Instagram page, and the TikTok account from Becker has disappeared.
In an apparent effort to keep up with TikTok, Instagram released new “Boomerang” features on Friday.
According to Mashable, Instagram users can now trim the duration of their video loops and access new video effects—which should look eerily similar for anyone who’s ever used TikTok before.
Here are the latest effects, and how an Instagram spokesperson described each to TechCrunch:
SlowMo: “Slows down your Boomerang to capture each detail”
Echo: Creates a double vision effect.”
Duo: “Both speeds up and slows down your Boomerang, adding a texturized effect.”
Trimming: “Edit the length of your Boomerang, and when it starts or ends.”
SlowMo Echo Duo
Boomerang has new creative twists that'll make you say yaaassssss. Try them all out today. pic.twitter.com/wp0A71RefL
For what it’s worth, Snapchat has offered a slow-motion and fast-forward feature for years. And despite Instagram’s latest upgrades, it’s still behind the curve when it comes to video effects. TikTok provides motion blur filters and pixelated transitions–which Instagram has yet to copy.
But as Mashable notes, the new features aren’t a complete surprise. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg previously hinted at plans to take on rival TikTok.
“[TikTok] married short-form, immersive video with browse,” he said in October at a leaked meeting. “So it’s almost like the Explore Tab that we have on Instagram. … I kind of think about TikTok as if it were Explore for stories, and that were the whole app … So we have a number of approaches that we’re going to take towards this.”
Her tweet suggests that her ban was due to violating one of the application’s community guidelines against nudity.
“DO NOT post, share, or send explicit content, sexual content, or nudity,” the guidelines read.
According to Dexerto, Mongeau also spoke about the ban in a video posted to her Instagram Story on Jan. 10.
“I’m still banned from TikTok,” she said in the video, per Dexerto. “It won’t let me post, and I’m so—I’m honestly really upset about it, like in real life. Like… what do I do? I’ll be good. I’ll leave my shirt on. I promise. No more bongs.”
Some fans on Twitter jokingly responded by saying the ban was inevitable due to her usual attire.
“Tana even if you put all your clothes on I’m sure we’d still see a nip no hate tho free the nips we like nips,” Twitter user jnjsdinkfamBri wrote.
That’s why they banned u because clothes on don’t equal tana mongeau
Many shared their confusion over the ambiguity of how the rules are reinforced.
“Omg me too sis!” Twitter user @partiwzanardi wrote. Partiwzanardi also shared a YouTube video detailing their experience determining what is appropriate and in-line with the regulation standards.
TikTok takes seriously what kind of content is shared and continues to make updates to its policies and community guidelines. TikTok states the platform “is not the place for graphic, violent, shocking, or sensational content. If you wouldn’t show this content to your parents or children, please don’t post it here.”
For some users, the guidelines are just not clear enough. Where is the proverbial “red line” drawn? Only when slapped with a ban, is it made clear that they have gone too far.
TikTok is known for videos of teens dancing and lip-syncing to trending songs, but OB-GYN Staci Tanouye is using the video platform to share information about safe sex.
The doctor shares information about STDs, birth control, and how to become a gynecologist. About 157,000 people follow Tanouye, and she’s garnered more than 1.7 million likes on her content. She told Yahoo Lifestyle that her target audience is young girls on the app.
“I kind of just tried to be silly enough and make a fool enough to get their attention with their trends on their level, but then throw out the message and the medical information that I wanted them to get that I think is not out their enough,” Tanouye told Yahoo Lifestyle.
The doctor began publishing videos in November, she said, but the platform was “not at all intuitive” for the mom of two. So to learn how to fit on TikTok, she watched YouTube tutorial videos. Eventually, she got the hang of it.
Her most popular video comes from her participation in the viral dance challenge to the song “Candy” by Doja Cat. As she dances to the song, she shares safe sex tips in the captions.
“A lip cold sore = herpes virus. You can transmit oral herpes to the genitals. So, if your partner has a cold sore, don’t have oral sex,” she wrote in the captions.
About 1.1 million people liked the video on TikTok.
“I now see the potential of how big it is and how much I can get my message out just for general education. It’s no longer for recruiting patients to my practice. This is bigger than that,” Tanouye told Yahoo Lifestyle. “They are very powerful platforms that we can really make a big difference on.”
Nineteen-year-old Luke Lorraine (@WavyMcGrady) recently shared a video where he’s dressed as Jim, lip-syncing the lines of The Office‘s iconic office showdown between Jim and Dwight Schrute. The clip has gained more than 300,000 likes in just two days.
He has a second clip with him as Jim, doing the famous engagement scene–with a phone he bought at Goodwill just for the reenactment. That one has more than 290,000 likes as of this writing.
As an aspiring musician, Lorraine regularly posts videos of himself singing on his TikTok. However, his Jim impression, complete with the personality quirk and requisite smarm, could have people believing he should get into the acting game.
“It’s funny, even the facial expressions I do naturally make my mom say, ‘That’s so Jim,'” Lorraine told Popsugar. As for how much Lorraine has seen The Office, he said that it’s been “a bunch of times.”
Other Office fans can currently watch all nine hilarious seasons of the NBC series on Netflix, though it is leaving the streaming platform in 2021. However, not long after, the comedy will be back online to stream–but will air exclusively on NBC’s upcoming streaming platform, Peacock.
A nurse is getting dragged for sharing false information on TikTok about sexually transmitted diseases. In a since-deleted TikTok video, “Nurse Holly” claimed the best way to prevent getting an STD is to abstain from sex until marriage.
“Just the truth,” nurse Holly said in the caption of her video.
Viewers were livid.
“If i go to get tested and the nurse tell me i should have waited till marriage SOMEONE is getting knocked tf out,” Twitter user @dumbbitchmargo tweeted.
if i go to get tested and the nurse tell me i should have waited till marriage SOMEONE is getting knocked tf out pic.twitter.com/cVnNENVIBi
Though you cannot contract most STDs if you are abstaining from sex, marriage does not protect you from infections and diseases.
Condoms are an effective form of protection. When used correctly, condoms are 98% effective against most STDs.
But there are some STDs that neither condoms nor abstinence can protect from, like herpes, HPV, and syphilis, which can spread through skin-to-skin contact, like during kissing or oral sex. Fortunately, kids can now get vaccinated against HPV, the most common STD, when they are as young as 11, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some people found that saying the best way to prevent STDs is abstinence to be ridiculous. Twitter user @MattLaneWrites likened it to saying the best way to avoid a car accident is to never get in a car.
The actual best way to avoid STDs is never to have sex, regardless of whether you're married.
The best way to avoid a car accident is never to get in a car.
The best way to avoid a broken heart is never to love anyone or anything.
wtf you wait till marriage and then u have sex and then you find your husband has chlamydia and give it to u what happens then lmao https://t.co/6oevDFbmLb
Many viewers advocated for better sex education, as well as destigmatized, routine STD testing.
“The best way to prevent STIs is to create a culture where people seek regular STI testing and immediate treatment without having to worry about being judged by their medical care providers,” Twitter user @brosandprose wrote.
The best way to prevent STIs is to create a culture where people seek regular STI testing and immediate treatment without having to worry about being judged by their medical care providers. https://t.co/F0it89pA7B
Smh... It pains me to see that a fellow nurse genuinely thinks abstinence is realistic and effective... proper sex ed and better access to resources are the best and only ways to prevent STIs from spreading https://t.co/qdW68g1jyh
Actually the best way to prevent STDs is to actually educate people on sexual well being, know your partners, never trust anyone but yourself, practice safe & get tested regularly. Newsflash you can also end up marrying someone with an STD & https://t.co/PPKadkSWWl
Nurse Holly is a devout Christian, according to her TikToks. Some viewers said they felt religion can prevent medical professionals from giving patients the best care.
“If you want to be a medical professional and can’t separate your personal beliefs from providing the best care possible, do us all a favor and DON’T,” Twitter user @Carrie__pink48 wrote.
If you want to be a medical professional and can’t separate your personal beliefs from providing the best care possible, do us all a favor and DONT https://t.co/lEPiMIwtsp
After the first time I had sex, I went to a clinic to get tested for STDs and pregnancy bc I found out the guy took the condom off. The nurse told me I should’ve waited for a title before “giving the goods.” Some of you need a different career. https://t.co/9oj7oyBWd9
Twitter users vented about how TikTok nurses have made them more afraid of medical professionals.
“All they’ve shown me is that they judge you for EVERYTHING you come in for and do it shamelessly by outing themselves on these apps. Get a new career,” Twitter user @AllieLayne5 wrote.
these dumbass nurse tic toks make me never wanna deal with a medical person again because all they’ve shown me is that they judge you for EVERYTHING you come in for and do it shamelessly by outing themselves on these apps. get a new career https://t.co/DEG7cqAn3s
It’s always a challenge for brands to keep up with the youths without coming off like that “how do you do, fellow kids?” meme from 30 Rock. At least, that’s the only way to explain this TikTok misfire—pun fully intended—from the New York Jets.
On Monday, the official TikTok account for the football team uploaded a clip of a teen (or young woman) dancing to Shake Dat by Loui (feat. Lil Jay). As she bends down to do a twerk, a football shoots out of her butt, which is caught by a quarterback off-frame.
“Whoever runs the Jet’s official Tik Tok account is about to be promoted or fired,” wrote Twitter user @isabella_nowak, who shared the clip shortly after it was uploaded.
Whoever runs the Jet’s official Tik Tok account is about to be promoted or fired pic.twitter.com/SDdTMAEmwi
The TikTok was not long in this world, which apparently wasn’t ready for maybe-underage girls farting (pooping?) footballs out of their behinds. The clip was removed from the team’s account within the hour.
Unfortunately for the New York Jets, trying to take something off of the internet is like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool. The inexplicable clip has taken on a new life on Twitter as people share it and try to wrap their minds around the whole thing.
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL TIKTOK OF THE NY JETS THIS IS A $3.2 BILLION FOOTBALL TEAM I- pic.twitter.com/cOE6GVyaiE
The Jets getting a lot of flak for this being inappropriate.
1/ It seems on brand for the TikTok platform 2/ If anyone is offended by it, I’m hoping it’s because of that throwing motion on the left. The snap was solid. #smsportspic.twitter.com/sMhGagiCTU
Given that the New York Jets went 7-9 in 2019, narrowly missing the playoffs (and making it nearly a decade since the team has survived until postseason), this is certainly one way of getting people talking. Maybe they should double down on the tactic. But next time, make sure everyone knows the model is over the age of 18.
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