TikTok

The BigBrotherAward 2025 in the “Social Media” Category goes to

TikTok

for

– violations of privacy;

– spreading of fake news and hate speech;

– manipulating people with respect to their political convictions, their values and their consumption behaviour through intransparent algorithms;

– inducing addiction, especially in minors.¹

My award speech today has special significance for me. It is not only directed at the awardee and the general public, but also specifically to my granddaughter. I will call her “Mia”. Mia is 17 years old, and she uses TikTok enthusiastically. The speech is also directed at the millions of minors who use TikTok in a similar way², but also at all the adults who have fallen for TikTok as well.

To clarify: I have nothing against video clips giving make-up advice or funny memes spreading via the Internet. My intention is to point you, Mia, and the ca. 142 million regular TikTok users in Germany and Europe towards certain aspects that maybe you haven’t really thought about yet.

TikTok, which was put onto the market in 2018 by the Chinese company ByteDance, is popular all over the world. Every user can present themselves there on a global stage, with short videos or music, and they can see how others – including influencers and companies – present themselves on this stage, too. Sure, this can be interesting and entertaining.³ A third of the population in Europe and even half of the US population is on TikTok. This popularity is not based on the superior quality of all these videos. And it is only to a small extent due to so-called content creators publishing items that are partly fun, partly insightful or even educating. The popularity comes from the fact that the algorithm serves up video snippets on the “for you” page by the minute – based on a highly sophisticated personality profile that is generated by your usage behaviour.

With every video, you, Mia, will leave about 600 data traces on the platform – with detailed information about your Internet device, including the time you spend watching with millisecond precision.⁴ The algorithm is trained to give you new triggers all the time, which leads to a release of the pleasure hormone dopamine. The aim is to make you addicted to TikTok, so that you will revisit the app again and again.⁵ Why?

Because TikTok, most of all, is a gigantic money-making machine. About half of the videos shown have a direct advertising background. Big money is earned by big influencers, who advertise products that you are supposed to buy – directly in the TikTok shop, ideally.⁶ But the biggest money is actually earned by TikTok itself, because the company shows you personalised advertising and is being paid for that.

You and your data are the product that TikTok is selling on the market.⁷ What is shown and sold to you may look appealing at first sight; but most of it is junk. The Chinese online shopping platforms Temu and Shein – who were given a BigBrotherAward last year⁸ – flog their cheap Chinese products here. I am not opposed to Internet shopping as such – but with these TikTok deals, the balance between costs and your benefits is particularly bad: Many of these disposable products are a threat not only to your bank balance but to the environment or perhaps even your health, too. By the way: 1 hour spent on TikTok will use up 0.8 Gigabytes of your data volume. You will have to pay for that, too.⁹

TikTok is not just trying to sell crap to you. The platform also manipulates political opinions. It presents values to you that are incompatible with a society based on humanity and solidarity. Of course you can find videos from democratic parties on TikTok.¹⁰ But the algorithms makes sure to prioritise videos from extremists that spread hate and fake news – such as the German right-extremist party AfD.¹¹ The fantasies of masculinity that for example the AfD member of the European Parliament, Maximilian Krah posts on TikTok are simply misogynistic. Videos like these from the extreme right incite prejudice against queer people. They promote violence and hatred against people with an international biography and refugees. They disseminate role models for men and women that are simply out of place in the year 2025.¹²

Although explicit political advertising is disallowed in social media law and also in TikTok’s own terms of use¹³, these videos are omnipresent on TikTok.¹⁴ Political problems that really matter – like the climate crisis, the threat to peace by Putin or social inequalities – are moved to the background by the algorithm. Except for disinformation posts on these topics. What is definitely falling behind are suggestions for constructive solutions. And that is how ByteDance wants it.

The Chinese TikTok operator acts in the Western world as an extension of the Chinese government, a dictatorial regime. In China, people are monitored with every step they take. Again, you can’t learn about this on TikTok – and nothing either about protests like those in Hongkong a few years ago. Russian troll armies use TikTok to create division in Western societies.¹⁵ The company’s trust and safety department, based in Berlin, that is supposed to prevent or at least diminish this, is about to be dissolved. The intention is to replace it with so-called artificial intelligence.¹⁶ Those that stand up to TikTok as an employer face dismissal, such as employees in Berlin in a current labour dispute.¹⁷

Dear TikTok users: You are not just getting funny videos or harmless advice, but also harmful values and fake news. Do not believe what is being presented to you. When 540 TikTok videos were fact-checked last year, 105 of these were found to contain untruths.¹⁸ It is not a coincidence that US president Donald Trump, who is creating chaos all across the world with his propaganda, is a friend of TikTok and uses the platform specifically for his incitement against migrants, democrats or scientists.¹⁹ Trump has more than 15 million followers on TikTok²⁰ – almost twice as many as on his own platform, Truth Social.²¹ Do not get your information from your TikTok bubble, use trustworthy media!

TikTok discriminates against groups, mostly minorities, for example by restricting the reach of queer people or those with disabilities – for their own protection, allegedly.²² Much of the content will not only tempt you to squander your money but even to harm yourselves, e.g. through hazardous challenges. TikTok stunts and other trends keep leading to psychological²³ and physical harm, sometimes even death.²⁴

Dear Mia, as you know, I have been working for data protection and privacy for many years. But you probably don’t know that TikTok keeps violating privacy laws. It starts with the fact that your and the other users’ data is processed, among other places, in China, where neither you nor any regulatory authorities have any control over it.²⁵ If you want to ask TikTok what the company knows about you – and you have a legal right to be told –, the company will refuse to give you a real answer.²⁶ If you knew what the company does with your data, you might want to spend less time on TikTok. You know how brutal bullying in a group can be. TikTok has more information about you than any bully would have. On another note: In many cases of future job interviews, it will not be helpful if you have made a fool of yourself in lots of TikTok videos. The Internet won’t forget.

Since we live in a free country, you are allowed to use TikTok as you please. If it was up to the people behind TikTok, this would no longer be allowed. Douyin – which is the name TikTok uses in China – massively censors according to the wishes of the Chinese dictators, and it collects user data for them.²⁷

Many regulatory authorities have imposed fines on TikTok due to numerous violations of the law. But the operators earn so much money that they can pay these fines from petty cash.²⁸ That should of course not stop any regulatory bodies from demanding from ByteDance that they follow the law. But it would be much more effective if you, Mia, and in general all users would keep away from TikTok. Or, if that is simply impossible, change settings in the app to limit the data theft.²⁹

Also, you can sue TikTok for damages as a recompense for the illegal data transfers. A charitable consumer organisation can help you with that.³⁰

Let me repeat: It is not my intention to criticise you, the TikTok users.³¹ The ones that deserve to be criticised are TikTok, or rather its parent company ByteDance, that are toying with you.

Congratulations, therefore, on the BigBrotherAward 2025 in the Social Media category, TikTok.