If you’re among its one billion users, you’ve likely spent a few hours going down the social media rabbit hole that is TikTok.
Director Shalini Kantayya looks behind the platform in the documentary TikTok, Boom, an entry in the Festival’s U.S. Documentary competition. The film explores the app from two angles – the content creators, aka “Influencers,” and the platform’s concerning algorithm and data harvesting practices linked to the Chinese government.
The app was first created as Douyin in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, a Chinese internet entrepreneur. Aimed at Chinese youth, Douyin allowed users to post and monetize videos featuring products. In 2018, Douyin merged with Musical.ly, another Chinese app where users posted short lip-sync videos, and TikTok was born.
Kantayya introduces viewers to a variety of TikTok creators. Feroza Aziz is a teenager of Afghani descent who initially used the app to connect with peers but eventually found a platform to raise awareness of human rights abuse in China. TikTok suspended her account, but she soon found a clever way to share her message disguised as a make-up tutorial. Deja Foxx, is an activist and influencer who transitioned her TikTok feed from lifestyle content to a forum to advance social justice issues. And Spencer X, an avid beatboxer who grew a TikTok following of over 54 million and is among the top-10 most-followed on the platform.
TikTok, Boom follows Kantayya’s earlier documentary Coded Bias - winner of the 2020 U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize - that looks at the impact of algorithms and artificial intelligence on minority users.
While it struggles to delve too deep into the influencer or privacy storylines, it’s worth a watch if you’ve got the app on your phone.
