In recent years many protests have moved online to better spread awareness for the various causes and policies they support, but how has this technology changed protests? Many human rights activists and their supporters have taken to Social media, not only to argue and debate ideas, but to document and report real world issues in the first person. In a partisan and divided world first hand reporting is important to document experiences in areas with strong censorship of ideas or information. Some apps in particular have shown to be amazing resources when combatting these problems, one of which being TikTok. Released in 2016 TikTok became a popular app among generation z, but unveiled new controversies over censorship and international data collection - a claim TikTok negates. However, its pros may far outweigh its potential cons.
In recent months the controversy around TikTok has heated up, resulting in a massive congressional response to ban the popular app. Many critics of the app voiced their concerns of spyware, mental health impacts, and fears of fake news spreading on the platform. However,”TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its data is not held in China," (Maheshwari 2023) and some opposed to the ban have stated that the ban is,”hypocritical at best.” (Network 2023) Citizens have also been quick to point out some of the hidden truths of the push to ban TikTok, and as one article puts it,” … the RESTRICT Act — touted as a way ban TikTok nationwide — would do far more than prevent users from accessing an app known for its viral dance routines and conspiracy theory videos." (Tangalakis-Lippert 2023) The article goes on to explain,”The bill … wouldn't target TikTok specifically. Instead, it would authorize the Secretary of Commerce, under orders of the President, to restrict or ban digital products and services from countries it deems to be foreign adversaries: China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.” (Tangalakis-Lippert 2023) Those opposed to this claim its limiting the 1st amendment rights outlined in the constitution, and others ague it gives the government the power to determine what media its citizens see. Regardless of the views on the topic, it would severely limit the ability to learn, observe, and participate with other cultures, ideologies, and backgrounds; which in turn will only lead to more division, confusion, and hate. The acknowledgment of first hand sources and the sharing of information is crucial to the democratic process and to human rights, and any law preventing this is surly just another form of censorship - United States included.
Even as this report is being written, hundreds of thousands of new videos are being posted. Spyware or not, the information shared across the globe plays an instrumental role in understanding what’s happening the world over. For example, France is currently having massive protests and civil unrest due to a change in their retirement age. This protest is rarely discussed on mainstream news sources and is almost completely ignored by traditional reporters, yet type in France in the searcher of TikTok and a wealth of first hand footage, commentary videos, and civil debates flood the screen. Many liberals, not only in the political sense, voice their concerns that this proves government censorship on some level. These claims have spread through a viral trend involving “hashtag France” where an individual can search France on Facebook or Instagram and find art, poetry, architecture, and culture with not a single piece of first hand documentation; but upon typing in France on TikTok or Twitter they are given a wealth of information on their current volatile political state. Some current hashtags on TikTok related to these French protests are #frenchrevolution2023 at 3.5 million views, #Franceprotests at 27.8 million views, and #Frenchprotests at 17 million views. With millions of views and discussions taking place on these tags, TikTok has fostered a community where individuals can show real world problems through their own eyes and still reach a sizable audience. One such example of a first hand source gaining massive attention comes from Rémy Buisine, a 32 year old video journalist, where, “Buisine’s livestreams from the demonstrations’ teargassed frontlines have lasted up to eight hours, with 70,000 people tuning in to Brut’s TikTok at the height of a stream. Over the last month, the outlet’s TikTok has gained a million followers — it now has 4.2 million — thanks in large part to his streams.” ( Ng Brian 2023) Buisine’s videos and others detailing the protests have repeatedly found my personal tiktok page even as this report was being written, and have shown a side to the protests that mainstream media hasn’t been able to.
On the other side of the world similar concerns are being voiced through TikTok of overreach by the Iranian government. As the article put it,” One effective method the protesters have hit on has been to use TikTok, the video-sharing app better known for young people posting clips of themselves singing and dancing. The way video clips are shared on the social media platform and the protesters’ clever use of labeling have helped activists circumvent the information blockade of Iran’s tech-savvy security services and reach a wide audience.” (Whitney 2023) In this case, young Iranians have protested the Iranian government’s,” brutal crackdown," (Whitney 2023) and their,”efforts … to throttle internet access and censor information leaving the country.” (Whitney 2023) The spreading of information on TikTok about these events is propagated through many ways on the app, as mentioned before hashtags have helped reach a massive audience, but music has also proven to be a useful tool. “The sound of many of the videos depicting the events in Iran, with more than 11.7 million views, is the song 'Baraye' by Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour.” (Whitney 2023) The use of certain songs to reinforce movements is something that was common before the 21st century, as many competing political factions around the world had “anthems” or songs of their choice that represented their struggles. The article goes on to explain,” The song’s lyrics are derived from a string of Farsi tweets that detail Iranians’ reasons for revolution. Hajipour was detained because of the song but was later released. ‘Baraye’ has since become a global protest ballad.” (Whitney 2023)
The protests don’t stop at awareness though, as the article highlights,”There are active TikTok campaigns for everything from Grammy nominations to scripting emails to local representatives and global leaders. Videos teach laypeople to discreetly host Iranian web traffic and direct users to local protests. They share petitions for G-7 leaders to expel Iran’s diplomats and the U.N. to hold the Iranian government accountable for its crimes against international law. As state executions of protesters have begun in Iran, the #StopExecutionsInIran campaign has clocked over 100 million views on TikTok.” (Whitney 2023) This in turn has a positive outcome of democratic participation, as more people learn about causes they can support, and how to do so peacefully and impactfully. However, when peaceful resistance fails, and there is no alternative to conflict, this app has helped soldiers adapt to and deal with the horrors of war. In the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine we have seen extensive documentation of Russian war crimes via the TikTok’s of Ukrainian civilians, as well as an emergence of veterans from other countries sharing experience, advice, and support for the ill-equipped and ill-trained Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. This emergence of “wartok” as many users call it, is best summarized by exploring a Ukrainian’s TikTok page, and features humor, but also documents the sad reality of war. One article approaching the topic states,“Here, though, she pointed out things in her ‘bomb shelter’ that ‘just make sense,’ as the meme goes, including a home gym, two toilets, and a ‘Ukrainian military breakfast’ of bananas and yogurt. In a later TikTok, the same user documents a ‘typical day during war in Ukraine’ and ends with a clip of a cinema that had been bombed. The videos are Internet jokes and deadly serious documents at the same time.” (Chayka 2022) I personally have witnessed this phenomenon and it has truly opened my eyes to the struggles of everyday life in a war zone, and the cruel realities of conflict. From videos of blatant warcrimes by both sides to videos of Orthodox churches protesting against their own government in the midst of war, the app hosts the good and the bad posted by real people on both sides of the lines.
A topic that has largely been neglected by traditional news sources has been the list of grievances the Chinese people have had with their government during covid. Many of these instances have been deliberately covered up or censored by the Chinese Communist Party’s state run media, but some brave Chinese nationals with VPNs have managed to document the abuses on TikTok - despite its ban in the region. From welding families in their apartments to locking workers inside their factories, China’s government has enforced their “zero covid policy” with an iron fist and zero regard for human decency or life. Chinese officials in Xi’an ,” … told [their] 13 million inhabitants they were only allowed out from their homes when invited to take part in a new round of mass Covid testing, or for medical emergencies.” (US Sun 2021) This official statement may not seem extreme, but soon,” Xi’an residents took to social media to call for help, saying they were ‘starving’ and asking neighbours to provide supplies for them.‘I'm about to be starved to death,’ wrote one person on Weibo, China's equivalent of Facebook. ‘There's no food, my housing compound won't let me out, and I'm about to run out of instant noodles... please help!’” (US Sun 2021) This was dismissed at first, but eventually TikTok videos surfaced of people bolted in their homes or welded in their apartments by Chinese officials. In a separate instance workers were locked inside their factories and as one article claims,” Trapped in a bubble for almost two months.” (Bloomberg 2022) The article then goes on to state that,” locked down by government decree and walled off from the outside world, Quanta Computer Inc.’s mostly low-wage workers are demanding more freedom and beginning to revolt against their overseers …” (Bloomberg 2022) This story however did not cover the countless other experiences across communist controlled China throughout the pandemic, and with Chinese government censors working hard to bury these stories many citizens are taking to TikTok to document the abuses in a first person video. These resources, though hard to cite due to lack of publishing, are readily available to anyone who searches for them; and the emergence of civil reporting has opened a new wave of first hand resources that may not be recognized or considered by traditional news institutions.
Typically when we think of transnational protests, we think of first world countries’ citizens traveling to third world countries and helping motivate positive change, but Project Willow has broken this norm. Like many of the issues discussed prior, the anger against Project Willow originated on TikTok and has gained a massive following with support from the app pouring in from Europe, South America, and even Asia. Project Willow is,” a massive and decadeslong oil drilling venture on Alaska's North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. The area where the project is planned holds up to 600 million barrels of oil. That oil would take years to reach the market since the project has yet to be constructed.” (Nilsen 2023) Though the expected construction is years away many environmentalists argue against the project,” because of its potential for climate impacts and wildlife damage.” This sentiment grows as one article mentions the,”opposition has grown rapidly in the last few weeks as the #stopwillow campaign has gone viral on TikTok.” (Esme 2023) One individual who has been highly influential in these protests first posted on TikTok to spread awareness. Elise Joshi, 20, is a UC Berkley student who has used their online presence on TikTok to ‘protest the project.’ “In February, Ms Joshi created one of the first TikTok's opposing the Willow Project, calling it a 'carbon bomb’. ‘We cannot afford more fossil fuel projects,’ she said. She was surprised when her #StopWillow video racked up over 300,000 views.” (Esme 2023) This level of interaction is something unique to TikTok, as other social media platforms have a harder time gathering this number of views and support online. This level of engagement has lead to average citizen’s concerns being heard the world over, and since a petition against the project went live on change.org it has,”gained more than three million signatures,” (Esme 2023) and turning it into one of the,”most signed petitions on the platform.” (Esme 2023)
Yet even with so many positive impacts and first hand sources governments worldwide are becoming skeptical of the app, and many have outright banned its use. Places like Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Canada, Taiwan, India, China, and even the European Union have instituted a full or partial ban on the app, with many Americans fearing the United States joining the list next. This comes as a statement from the FBI in December of 2022 claimed,” that TikTok posed a national security risk.” (ABC 2022) And stating,” Government devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers, are not allowed to use Chinese-made software, which include apps like TikTok.” (ABC 2022) Yet those opposed argue,”If you use any social media besides TikTok, chances are that you have had your data stolen and sold many times before.” (Network 2023) Some have argued that the states banning TikTok do so for the purpose of information control and censorship, but all have dismissed these issues with security claims. One instance of such is under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, where for,” the first time [the Taliban] has banned an app since they came to power last August.” The Taliban claimed that the ban was needed to, “prevent the younger generation from being misled.” (BBC 2022) The group may claim it has the interests of its people in mind, however,” it has constantly taken action to restrict women's rights.” (Hutton 2022) This coupled with concerns of radicalized religious doctrine makes Taliban’s reasoning for banning the app a bit shaky, as claims of “protecting its youth” happen at the same time as human rights abuses. Many of these concerns were voiced on TikTok by citizens from all over the world in response to the Taliban’s ban and others; continually go ignored by mainstream media sources.
To conclude, the use of TikTok in the mobilization of transnational protests via the internet has given many protestors a voice in a world dominated by mainstream media and politics. The first hand sources facilitated through TikTok have shaped our movements and changed our minds; and remain the most reliable form of information to date. Growing up in public education all students are taught that first hand sources are the most important and reliable assets when understanding a complex issue, but yet our governments have changed their minds. In the age of mass media and large state funded or interest funded media, it seems the importance of civil reporting has grown; and will continue to provide transparency and accountability to those who participate. Without a way for people to share their first person experiences, regardless of the content, how can we fully understand and interact each other, let alone the world around us? This technology may have some negative consequences, but the struggles of others often provide inspiration for some; and the whole of humanity has every right, and need, to walk a mile in another person’s shoes - even if only for sixty seconds.
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(This article was written for educational and commentary purposes and will receive no financial compensation for its completion. Any institution, organization, or individual may request its removal on the grounds of privacy or rights at any time by contacting my email)
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