Distribution of “short and sweet” videos

In mid-July, Vietnamese social media shared a video of a girl jumping and a TikTok video showing the plane moving. As soon as the incident calmed down, a video appeared on the platforms in which the girl was placed on a conveyor belt at the airport. Despite the public backlash and government advice, a few days later another girl in a yellow shirt sat on the assembly line filming Tik Tok.

Before that, the trend of taking off your shirt and swaying your hips in front of the screen and sharing in short video forums was cool and controversial in Vietnam as well. In addition, many social media users have reacted to the dangerous trend of using cellphones to record videos on airplane windows, breathing problems, ingestion of detergent, etc.

follow up The Washington Post, the proliferation of video spam on social media stems in part from the race to lure users to new platforms. In the two years since the outbreak, TikTok’s short videos have spread rapidly around the world. Last year and earlier this year, given the phenomenal success of Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube also joined the race to create short video features to suit users’ tastes.

But race content has meant the moderation team can’t keep up with the rapidly growing user base, leading to videos promoting risky behavior circulating on social media.

“Platforms consciously choose to display content to gain views and optimize profits. They see users as a market for profit, not a society with rules to follow,” said Kenyan sociologist Nanjala Nyabola. technology expert.

As a result, users on new platforms like Tiktok, Rails, etc. surround 10-second videos with malicious content. Min Hang, 23, from Hai Phong said the content was unacceptable. Showing her body on TikTok was disgusting even if she didn’t have to look.

“I just opened the app and immediately a picture of a woman named WJ popped up. She was constantly dancing and flirting in front of the screen in the video. With a greeting: “Girls with a soul, you heard. Big and round. “There are jokes in the comments that need to be answered,” Hang said. “And lately I’ve been scrolling through some of my friends’ posts on Facebook and seeing videos of strangers shaking their hips and showing their boobs.

Hang believes short-video platforms’ algorithms could prioritize content that attracts more people over useful content. Insult videos have hundreds of thousands of likes, while cooking videos only have a few hundred hearts.

TikTok states in its Community Standards Enforcement Report that nudity, sexually explicit and sexually explicit content are not allowed on its platform. However, in 2021, 14% of content still breaks the rules. The platform also claims that 90% of these videos are deleted within 24 hours of publication, 78.5% are deleted without views, and 90.3% are deleted before reports are submitted. However, many people deliberately edit their videos and hashtags to avoid automatic censorship.

Tama Lever, a professor at Australia’s Curtin University who studies the impact of the internet, said silly videos and obscene content should be seen as a problem on new social networks. “It’s becoming increasingly complicated and widespread because many content creators don’t even know what they’re doing wrong. It’s a general issue across all platforms, not just TikTok,” he said.

insider Experts say 15-, 20-, or 30-second videos can make young people laugh, but they can damage the brain in different ways. About notifications WSJ He also pointed out that young people are the most vulnerable group to short videos and meaningless conversations on social media.

David Barnhart, mental health consultant at Alabama Behavioral Sciences (USA), says that all social media platforms can influence the way a person sees themselves.

“Tik Tok users watch dozens of videos in a matter of minutes, which triggers something called the reward system in the brain. They become addicted to the app and need constant stimulation. In addition to increasing stress, people who use children regularly watch Tik Tok videos. Dissatisfaction with their bodies, concerns about their appearance, addiction to exercise, etc. It can distort their view of themselves,” he said. Insider.

Kwong Nha-Yen Hong