TikTok skyrocketed to a major social media platform in Pakistan during covid, when quarantine boredom found thousands of teenagers and young adults using the platform to upload fun, short clips of themselves doing anything. Literally anything- an outfit check, lip-syncing, dancing, walking (?), telling stories, whatever, really. It didn’t take long for a group of popular tiktokers to rise to fame, gaining millions of followers and becoming the one-to-be for all teenagers. This meant what they wore, what they did, where they went, and the dark reality of who they used and abused—everything comes out.
What’s important to remember here is that they are all teenagers or in their 20s, given a platform to freely do and upload anything they wish, with millions in their audience being heavily influenced by them, some viewers as young as 10. I will be focusing on the curly haired (or front poof), golden hour filter TikTok boys for a certain reason- the allegations of pedophilia and abuse that have recently been exposed about them and why this should be a top concern considering the young boys viewing these men as potential role models.
The image tiktok boys have constructed is lucrative and based upon normalizing and glorifying inappropriate behavior, whether that be through the songs they are lipsyncing to, the actions and anything else they do that glorifies behaving in a way that would get you called out in the real world.
featuring @mujtaba.hashmi
Before I start, quick PSA that this is not any hate intended to all men making tiktoks. It is a platform everyone may use as they wish, however, certain behaviors are making a huge impact on young audiences since social media can be referred to as a pedagogy due to increased usage by younger audiences.
If any more tiktoks come to mind, please comment below!
Featuring @whyyusufkhan2.0
featuring @whoisraheelanyways and @whyyusufkhan2.0
Nani ka phone- the Raheel situation Within the past few days, a tiktoker by the name of Raheel (@whoisraheelanyways) has been exposed on serious allegations of pedophilia. He was outed for having relations with minors. Despite this, he continues to post tiktoks, and claims he is innocent- because they also flirted back. The entire Pakistani tiktok community has reacted to this- with memes. An extremely serious situation has been reduced to a joke, another hashtag, and another thing to post about for attention.
featuring @shehramleghari19
Is using humor in such contexts appropriate, considering the young lay audience watching these may downplay the seriousness of the situation?