TikTok’s Scooping Trend Is Social Media At Its Absolute Worst

thegamer.com:

I spend too much time on TikTok. Some of my colleagues rightfully view it as a zoomer nightmare filled with weird memes held up by a twisted algorithm designed to keep us scrolling more than anything else. They’re totally right, and I have long been sucked into the abyss. There is no escape, until a tarantula video pops up on my feed and I throw my phone across the room again. I’m serious, that’s happened three times now.

One trend has emerged recently that has turned the platform into a grifter’s paradise. In recent months I’ve seen a number of small businesses and independent creators find success through TikTok, building up a massive following and using their talents to reach an audience most of them deserve. That’s awesome, and shows that even if you start from nothing it’s possible to break through the social media noise and make yourself heard.

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When scrolling through TikTok you will automatically be recommended livestreams to tune into, and this ranges from creators you already follow to new ones who might align with your current interests and viewing habits. In the year or so I’ve been using the app it’s worked great, but recently the commercialised nature of the platform and how that can be so easily abused has made me want to switch off entirely.

Right now, TikTok is flooded with merchants who are flogging cheap figurines, gems, bracelets, and other novelty items that are clearly being made in a factory somewhere and treated with a much higher value than they actually have. They’re sold in the form of lucky dips into a flowing crystal fountain contraption where viewers can pay to have a host randomly collect a selection of items and