What is Tok-Bak?

And why do we need it?

This site was created as an alternative to Tik Tok’s Comments.

Tik Tok’s Propaganda Tendency

If you are unfamiliar with the TikTok platform, here is a link to describe it better. Tik Tok has more than a billion users and a significant chunk of those users create content. Anybody can publish a short video and publish it on Tok-Tok so long as they stay within the guidelines. This makes Tik Tok a terrific platform for misinformation and disinformation.

And unfortunately, when you find disinformation or misinformation and wish to confront it, there is almost no way to do it. You can write comments on a video but those comments can only contain 150 characters. That is hardly enough to do anything more than leaving a snarky comment. Certainly not enough to have a valid discussion.

Comments are also subject to deletion at the owner’s discretion. If they don’t like youf comment, they can delete it. They can also silence people who comment and they can outright block users from viewing their content entirely.

Hopefully you can see how easily this becomes more of a propaganda machine where people can send out lies and misinformation without being called into question. In fact, all you will see is glowing support for literal lies and hateful content.

This of course has led rise to the roving bands of organized Tik Tok users who will spam Tik Tok with negative reports about your content. After the algorithm gets enough reports, it removes the video from the public “for you” feed. At that point, you can appeal the removal but that requires management to intervene and there’s not really a lot of motivation to do that so appeals are seldom upheld.

Again, this is an effective measure of removing literal propaganda and lies, but it fails to open a conversation. Perhaps the person creating the objectionable and untrue videos is unaware of their deceit. Perhaps there is an opportunity to inform someone and let them know the problems with their claims without canceling them.

Just not in 150 characters

So I created this site to hopefully address this issue. When I find content on Tik Tok that is harmful and factually incorrect, I now have the platform to respond in more than 150 characters. I can then post the URL to my response in their comments and if they have even a modicum of integrity, they will be able to view my reply and hopefully engage in conversation.

While I do acknowledge that getting around the comment limitations by providing a link to another site in the hopes of creating a meaningful dialog is most likely an exercise in futility, in the odd event that something good could come out of it, I figure it’s worth a try.

My Motivation

Specifically, I created this site to respond to some of the recent videos on Tik Tok that present false or misleading information about racial injustice, racial inequity, and the racial divide in the United States. I am hoping to engage Content Creators in a good-faith discussion about the claims that they are making and I am willing to keep my mind open if they have come to their conclusions based on reason and logic more than just because it feels right.

I will make every effort not to be rude or disrespectful to the Content Creators that I Tok-Bak to and I hope that this site becomes a useful opportunity for both of us to share our experiences, opinions, and knowledge in a respectful engaged manner that Tik-Tok does not offer.

The Future of Tok-Bak

If this idea works and others feel the need to engage in real discussions with Content Creators, I hope to provide a bridge between engaged and serious users to interact with Content Creators more deeply than 150 characters allows. Ideally, this would become a new Tik Tok feature where, on the Content Creator’s initiative, they could engage in extended conversations where people were allowed to Tok-Bak by presenting a thorough argument that is well-formed. Thereby setting up a respectful and engaged conversation that allows for more depth.

I could see a Tok-Bak icon on the screen or the comments where an extended dialog between the Content Creator and a single viewer or several viewers (selected by the Content Creator) could explore more topics and integrate more content perhaps from the same Content Creator or from others. This would be a new paradigm for Tik Tok, but in my opinion, it would be the saving grace for this popular app.

It would take Tik Tok from the potential propaganda machine created by Chinese developers to supposedly gather information about other cultures, to a more democratic discussion that allowed the Content Creators to maintain control while allowing for an honest exploration of the more important topics of our time.

Right now, Tik Tok sponsors a single-sided biased point of view with no way to respond with any reasonable focus. It is easy to see how misinformation, lies, and ignorance can be spread through viral videos that undermine the very fabric of our nation. While we would like to believe that only evil people would use this platform for phony propaganda and lies, the truth is that good, responsible, and loving people could easily get swept up by the rush of public adoration where their content innocently spreads misinformation that can cause harm. I see this as the bigger risk for Tik Tok and I am hoping that Tok-Bak can provide a way to remedy this proactively.

Being able to have an open dialog about the issue will sponsor increased integrity on the part of Content Creators as they either defend their positions or respond to criticism that is more than just trolling.

Inspiration

This site was inspired in part by @cglenharris and a video where he takes aim at Ben Shapiro. The complexity of this topic could not be communicated in 150 characters and the resulting conversation wasn’t useful to anyone. It became confrontational rather than productive.

I am hoping this gives us both a chance to start the conversation over and provide more thorough and reasoned responses. It is with profound respect that I Tok-Bak to him and I hope that this becomes the beginning of a valuable discussion not just for the two of us, but for anyone interested in the topic.

Feel free to leave any comments and or ideas you have below. Also, please be patient as I work out the kinks on the site. Thanks for visiting.