TikTok’s “Pretty Privilege” Algorithm

TikTok’s Algorithm

In this article, you are going to read all about the Algorithm. TikTok is a rather influential entity in present society due to its undeniable capacity of acting as a means of spreading innovative ideas, trends, and information to millions of users. The application, at present, has a user rate amounting to more than 800 million people. Following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, TikTok usage skyrocketed as increased people utilized it for interactions. However, despite the specificity of your niche on TikTok, it is inevitable for an individual to stumble across an ongoing popular trend. While some of these trends may be a showcase of talent, a majority of these fads have body dysmorphic and pro-anorexia undertones. Read More from lifestyle blog

What I Eat in a Day 

A recent trend termed the “Everything I eat in a day challenge” urges users to post pictures of everything they eat in a day. While the content being produced and the response to these TikToks may initially appear to be harmless, a closer examination of the content and the responses to these TikToks reveal otherwise. The bulk of viral “what I eat in a day” films were made by skinny girls who ate small, infrequent, and limited meals. Many of the individuals who left comments on these posts are young, impressionable individuals whose lives are indisputable prone to influence as a result of social media. Such information romanticizes eating disorders, reduces self-esteem, triggers individuals suffering from eating disorders, and instills insecurity in young audiences with the pre-text of it being an “educational video.” These patterns contribute to a toxic lifestyle in which users bond over the mutual loathing of their bodies. 

The “Beauty Algorithm”

Tiktok utilizes a complicated AI system where a virality algorithm is put to use in order to determine the likelihood and potential of a video going viral. This technique paved the way for the growth of popular TikTok artists such as Charli D’Amelio and Chase Hudson, whose content was assessed to have high virality potential by the algorithm. The virality algorithm boosts the amount of exposure their material receives, allowing individuals to create a presence and a career on the app. TikTok’s “beauty algorithm,” which factors in the user’s conventionally “beautiful” features to their virality potential score, is a crucial component of the virality aspect. A model of idealized beauty is constructed based on various studies of “ideal” beauty, which includes lighter skin tone, no facial deformities, no black circles, a narrow “V-line” face, huge eyes, and a small nose. The bulk of TikTok users who have gone viral in recent years — such as Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio, and Bella Poarch — are conventionally beautiful by Western and Asian beauty standards and share many of the same features. As a result, even if their work demonstrates the bare minimum effort, it receives millions of views. 

Conclusion

Tiktok gives us great pleasure by providing entertainment videos. Some tiktokars also make amazing videos on the dog care, human health tips, and even small business ideas. A pretty privilege that rarely extends to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, disabled, older, and/or overweight people, as it does to many other areas of our culture. The beauty algorithm is reinforced by societally acceptable qualities in Eurocentric and Asian countries, according to an anthropological study. As a result, it restricts diversity by supporting the virality of only a limited set of features ahead of time. The beauty algorithm, like TikTok trends, promotes and adds to decades of teaching BIPOC to believe their characteristics are fundamentally undesirable while pushing Eurocentric beauty ideals.