On the face of it, short-form mobile video TikTok’s aim appears to be clean. It allows users to capture fun moments and share those that matter in their life, as well as participate in in-app challenges. But the app was often misused and blamed to allegedly promote viral life-threatening challenges and at times, some highly disgusting videos on the ‘For You’ page. Likewise, a viral trend, ‘Don’t Search This Up,’ on TikTok reportedly saw users posting violent and sexual videos to their profile pictures. The hashtag racked up to 50 million views on the video-sharing app before getting banned. The search trend allowed users to upload porn and graphic violent videos that millions ended up viewing.

TikTok was often alleged to hosting inappropriate content, opening doors to soft porn. Further allegations were made that the platform banned XXX OnlyFans creators, except biggies like Bella Thorne. However, the latest ‘Don’t Search This Up’ hashtag was extremely problematic, and reportedly caused the damage before it got banned. BBC News alerted the app to the viral hashtag that saw users promoting/ uploading sexual, the most offensive or disgusting material on the platform. The outlet further noted to have come across clips of hardcore pornography shared as profile pics on the app, as well as some graphic violent footage.

On TikTok, users can put videos as their profile pictures, rather than a still image. This makes it difficult to monitor than the clips posted to their feed. Their profile names also tend to entail a jumble of letters and words, making them difficult to track down. Despite the anonymity, the viral hashtag racked up to 50 million views. The videos were recommended on TikTok’s ‘For You,’ page which is based on the app’s algorithm. A user told BBC that he had reported multiple users on the app for posting offensive profile-picture videos. The clips about the trend are being posted in English and Spanish languages.

After coming across the problematic hashtag, TikTok deleted many of the offending accounts and disabled the hashtags to promote the trend.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2021 01:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).