#108: Cyber System Ovеrload
What Is IJBOL?
Bonjour.
You are reading Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus. I am back from my summer vacation in France 🌴 Sinéad O'Connor and Angus Cloud have sadly left us. Now back to TikTok. Its widespread impact is still a substantial obstacle but Google, Meta and Snap are making notable strides in the realm of short-form video.
Today we talk about:
📂 The Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065)
🍉 Sounds of Summer
🚇 Total DramaRama
🖍️ Extended Reading List
📂 The Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065)
TikTok has unveiled new measures ahead of EU Digital Services Act (Reuters). The Digital Services Act (DSA) is a Regulation in EU law to update a directive from 2000 regarding illegal content, transparent advertising, and disinformation (Wikipedia). TikTok users in Europe will be able to switch off the personalized algorithm behind its For You and Live feeds (The Verge). TikTok rolls out major Ads changes to meet EU regulations (Search Engine Land).
TikTok also recently announced the launch of its first ever ads transparency library (initially only for ads running in Europe) and a regional extension to its research API — also as it preps to hit its DSA compliance deadline later this month (August 28) (Techcrunch). Here is TikTok’s update on fulfilling our commitments under the Digital Services Act. If you want to dive deeper and learn more on TikTok and its governance frameworks, here is a paper.
An analysis of the ad library conducted by Forbes showed that as of Wednesday, July 26, more than 1,000 ads from Chinese state media outlets like People’s Daily and CGTN have run on the platform since October 2022 (Forbes): According to TikTok's newly public advertising library, ads from China’s largest state media outlets touting everything from China Covid lockdowns to tourism in the troubled Xinjiang region have been broadcast to millions of the platform's European users. If you want to play around with the searchable ads database, here it is.
🍉 Sounds of Summer
Growing older you amass a collection of summer songs that instantly bring you back to a specific year. In 2023 my bluetooth speaker kept constantly playing CooCool by Róisín Murphy and It Must Change by ANOHNI and the Johnsons.
Talking TikTok there were a bunch of sounds you could not really escape in the last couple of weeks. And i am not talking about Pinkydoll’s (#107) single: Ice Cream So Good (Dexerto). There was the Attenzione Pickpocket Meme that was fun until users did the research and the New York Times talked to the creator – a member of Italian right wing populist party Lega Nord. “I fell into the trap of loving the meme, before I did my research!” as this user posted on a service formerly known as Twitter. Then there was Padam Padam by Kylie Minogue. Here is an article on how TikTok and Tech Gave Kylie Minogue the Song of the Summer (Daily Beast).
Actually Padam Padam was dethroned by the internet’s new anthem – a glorious Eurodance parody by Kyle Gordon, a comedian who lives in Brooklyn, who shared a 50-second clip on TikTok end of July with a lot of people declaring “Planet of the Bass” their song of the summer (Vox, New York Times, GQ). So here we are listening to a synthetic resurrection of 90s Eurotrash. Let’s hope the trend lasts until the official launch of the single, August 15. By the way: What do DJs actually do? This question raised by user Madz became sort of a mini meme with DJs answering by actually remixing the question into a set.
🚇 Total DramaRama
In an increasingly saturated influencer landscape, one of the key ways for creators to differentiate themselves from their peers is through the originality of their content (Time). Not easy, especially in the world of DIY and interior design based on imitation and inspiration, making originality a slippery claim. To give you an idea about Interior Design TikTok Drama (99,1 M views):
“Tay has a large mirror that she decorated with moss and flowers, and so does Kaarin. Tay has a squiggly green line that she painted on the wall going down her stairs, and Kaarin has a squiggly green line painted in her kitchen.”
Another drama and some heavy discourse has unfolded around the account Subway Sessions. A video of creator Kristina Avakyan walking back and forth while waiting for the 6 train went viral on TikTok and other social-media platforms. In it, she wears a sheer lace onesie layered over a black bralette set with orange basketball shorts rolled multiple times over, so they sat below the lining of her visible underwear, and a pair of fuchsia heels. The look is, apparently, polarizing (The Cut).
I suggest to follow user yoona on that one: fashion sucks when we’re imprisoned by a mutually-agreed upon standard (especially by the masses) on what is a “good” or socially acceptable outfit… let’s all Be Free and let other people Be Free. But – that is me complementing – does not mean that you do have to decorate your mirror with moss and flowers.
🖍️ Extended Reading List
👓 Gen Zers are worried as they don't understand Gen Alpha's memes (Insider)
👓 The Age of Grandfluencers: The Seniors Take TikTok (Panelpicker SXSW)
👓 You better work! Drag queen performativity and visibility (Paper)
👓 TikTokers are documenting anti-government protests in Kenya (Rest of the world)
👓 Senegal: authorities suspend TikTok app (AlJazeera)
👓 The use and impact of TikTok in the 2022 Brazilian presidential election (Paper)
👓 TikTok boat-jumping challenge went viral. Then it fell apart (AP)
👓 What in the World Is Happening on TikTok Live? (The Verge)
👓 Labeling AI Content (Matt Navarra)
👓 Is It Time To Embrace “Opinion Fatigue”? (Bustle)
👓 TikTok: Car Dealership TikTok (Yes please)
👓 TikTok: A story of fleeting not-quite love (Summer)
IJBOL (pronounced “eej-bowl”) actually stands for “I just burst out laughing.” The term is not necessarily novel or different from how other iterations of internet laughter are used, but it describes something people actually do: explode into an audible, full-belly chuckle (NYT).
Thanks for reading. Anything you would like me to cover? Any questions? Happy to discuss in the comments. And if you dare please recommend this newsletter to a person you like.