Tik Tok Scams

     Fake decapitations?  A “devious-lick” challenge?  These are just a couple of the strange things you may find on TikTok. Many people have also been complaining about TikTok’s strange, and suspicious ads  Including a fake Amazon ad showing a Roblox character doing parkour while two robots talk in the background, insulting one another. After every insult, a clip of a guy dancing to Apple Bottom Jeans plays. At the end of each of these ads, sponsorships for Amazon display across the screen. There are even ads that are designed to scam gamers. The classic Roblox scam tries to draw you in with the promise of free amounts of the game’s currency, “Robux”, but instead could possibly give you a virus or steal your Roblox account. 

     TikTok has been the center of controversy for a while now, the “devious-lick” challenge involved students stealing urinals, toilets, sinks, and more, then posting it on TikTok. This has caused a lot of controversy with schools. Some students were arrested and charged with reports of vandalism, and theft because of this.   Now that these strange ads are coming in, It seems like people are feeling even more uncomfortable, making bad press for TikTok.  If TikTok ever wants to become a minor-friendly app, they have some real work to do.  

     Here is a piece of advice for you, if you are a TikTok subscriber, you are probably getting these ads due to the “TikTok Ads Manager” which, “offers easy-to-use tools to create and manage ads on TikTok” according to TikTok. Those uncomfortable TikTok ads that are “fun” and certainly imaginative have been paid to show up. Some ads may be “personalized” based on the viewer’s personal interests and activity within the app. The feature can be turned off, but, the word is out that TikTok will make these ads mandatory.