All language subtitles for The.TikTok.Effect.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

This programme contains some
strong language

TikTok - over one billion of us
use it.

In just a few years,
it's changed the world.

But is it now changing us?

If I was a copper today,
I'd be absolutely furious

with TikTok.

TikTok seems to be driving
some users into a frenzy.

You have blood on your hands!

From witch hunts
by amateur sleuths...

TikTokers have been
playing detective.

It has significantly distracted
the investigation.

..to incidents of
copycat violence...

They stole a bus and burned it.

..these frenzies seem to be fuelled
by posting and sharing

on the platform.

It's like wildfires spreading.

You can put out the main fire,
but, like, all of the little fires

are still there
and people can see it.

I'm the BBC's disinformation
and social media correspondent.

Like so many of us, I'm obsessed
with TikTok.

Sometimes I think that maybe
the TikTok algorithm knows me

better than I know myself.

And I want to know whether it's
really driving antisocial behaviour.

TikTok will send you
an encouragement telling you

you're a hit, keep going.

TikTok incentivises creators
very, very clearly

by paying them money.

If so, are the company aware
of what's going on?

Or is the machine out of control?

Am I looking at this one?
Sorry, I just fucked this up.

It's all right. Take two.

I'm Taylor Cohen.
I worked at TikTok in New York

between the years of
2020 and 2022,

as a global creative strategist.

I was a really early adopter
of the platform.

I couldn't put it down,
for like, days, months,

which turned into years. Started
to see more of my friends joining

and just saw it as not going away,

and I just needed to be
a part of it.

But do you have a blue North Face
TikTok hat?

Because I do.

TikTok is different than anything
that ever came before it.

If I met somebody who didn't
understand how the TikTok

algorithm worked, I would
explain it to them in this way.

Do you want to see what you
actually are interested in?

TikTok is a content graph,
meaning that the algorithm

serves you content
based on topics you like.

So, as an example, if you really
like dogs and you start to see

maybe one or two TikToks
in your feed of dogs,

but you're always liking
that dog post,

you're going to start to see a lot
more dog content in your feed.

Now, on Instagram, the biggest
difference there is, you know,

that's a social graph, meaning
you're only going to see content

based upon other people's influence.

So, your other friends liking posts,
how many followers the person has,

how much engagement they're getting.

When I think about TikTok,
it's allowing anybody

to show up at the top of your feed
or in the first couple of like,

swipes, whatever it is.

But it's so relevant
to you and it's so catered

that you feel like you're actually
living in this like, experience,

with other people, where you're
like, "Oh, wow, I feel that same
way."

And I can't say, like, at least
for myself, I've never experienced

that on any other social platform,
ever.

I'm Jeff Allen. I'm the co-founder
and chief research officer

at the Integrity Institute.

Videos uploaded to TikTok
are public, which means that anyone

on Earth can see them.

It's much more about discovery.

It's much more about seeing content
that is new and novel.

It does mean that the algorithm
is much more in control and has much

more influence over what users
are seeing.

You don't quite know what you're
going to see, when you log into it.

Four students stabbed to death
in their off-campus house

while two of their housemates slept.

Those are the bare facts of a crime
committed on the 13th of November

in the small college town
of Moscow, Idaho.

In November 2022,

four students from the University
of Idaho were murdered

in their bedrooms, while two
surviving housemates slept.

Unfounded speculation around
who committed the murders

gripped TikTok.

So, like everybody else
on TikTok,

I'm obsessed with this.

I'd never heard of Moscow, Idaho.

But the murders quickly
flooded my feed before being widely

covered by the media.

I'm fucking over The TikTok

detectives are all over this fucking
app.

Within a few days, I was almost
seeing nothing else.

I discovered that TikTok users
were uniquely obsessed

with the case.

I found videos on TikTok
using the Idaho 4 hashtag racked up

two billion views compared
to just 80,000 views on YouTube

over the same period. The case
seemed to generate more engagement

on TikTok than any of the other
social media sites.

So I was doing some digging
and I went on Maddie, which is one

of the victims' Instagram, and I saw
that she has a boyfriend named Jake.

Sleuths trying to solve mysteries
online happens all the time.

But what I noticed was how so many
people were getting involved

in baseless speculation,
who didn't seem to have posted

about true crime before,
getting huge numbers of views,

sharing theories about a murder
that they had limited knowledge of.

What I think happened is that Kaylee
had a stalker.

The more extreme the views,
the more interest

they seemed to attract.

This is Kaylee, and this is her ex.
And everyone's like,

"Kaylee was the target,
Kaylee was the target."

Like many, I found myself
watching video after video.

I was hooked by people throwing
around accusations

about who they believed
to be the murder suspect.

I am starting to believe more
and more that Jack was involved.

Stop thinking that you are
on an episode of Law And Order.

These are actual lives.

Some TikTokers, including
those who lived in Moscow, Idaho,

started to call out
what was happening.

These are real fucking lives
that you are discussing

and ruining.

People died. Fucking stop.

One of the main theories involved
someone called Jack Showalter.

Dubbed "Hoodie Guy" by TikTokers,

he was falsely accused
of being involved.

Jack was caught on CCTV by a food
truck close to two of the victims,

hours before they were killed.

The most suspect is grey Hoodie Guy
from the food truck.

He followed them.
This all just ties up.

He had it planned out.

TikTokers deciding he was a
suspect, dissected his life online.

The big rumour going around is
that his parents whisked him

off to South Africa,
so they can't get his DNA.

I think that it was premeditated.

That's why the main suspect
is now in Africa.

We do not believe the following
individuals are involved

in this crime. A male specifically
wearing a white hoodie.

It's not Jack Showalter.

It has nothing to do with my family
or the Showalters.

His sister released a TikTok
asking the witch-hunt to stop.

There were so many victims
that were created

through internet sleuth videos
like this.

We have received threats
and harassment.

Um...

..and...we didn't deserve that.

Jack didn't deserve that.

I'm Jasmine, and I worked
as a TikTok moderator in 2022.

I think it's fair to say
that TikTok has a unique quality

to it that makes it especially
sticky for people to engage

in trends. Because you feel like
everyone else is already doing it,

so what does it matter if I also
engage in this trend?

When really, it's kind of feeding
the algorithm and it's making

this topic more popular
by you posting about it.

You could see it, as a moderator,
that people would completely pivot

their content and kind of try to
jump on whatever's trendy right now.

So right now, we are driving
to Moscow, Idaho.

We just flew out from Florida.

While most joined in from their
homes, I found one TikToker

called Olivia,
who took things a step further.

She decided to visit the scene.

This is the home where four students
were brutally stabbed to death.

One of her posts even racked up
over 20 million views.

A reddish coloured substance,
believed to be blood,

can be seen coming from Xana's room.

Many were gripped by her videos.

Others were more critical
and asked her to stop.

But she kept posting.

It is insanely disrespectful
to go ahead and make

a little mock documentary
for a 15-second TikTok video

of an active crime.

In this leaked screenshot
from surveillance footage, it shows

the girls speaking with Kaylee's ex.

I wanted to understand what was
driving her to speculate

about the case.

She agreed to meet me in Florida,
where she lives.

There was something about it
that really drew me to it,

and I just felt this need to go out
there and dig for answers and see

if I can help out in any way.

Right here is the home where the
four University of Idaho students

were murdered.

I was at the location for a week,
talking to people, to neighbours,

to students, and trying
to get a feel for who could

have possibly done this.

How far is Moscow, Idaho,
from here in Florida?

Moscow, Idaho is about
a six or seven-hour flight,

I think. That is a long way to go?

Yeah, it was very long,
but the content that I make

where I am actually at the scene
of something, does much better

versus if I was just at home
sitting somewhere

and talking about a case, because
I'm showing them - this is exactly

what is happening right now.

What has been the reaction
on the ground when you turn up

at different locations
to cover these cases?

Typically, the reaction is positive,
but sometimes that's not

always the case. I think
one example of a hostile situation

was the Summer Wells case.

Something bad happened here
and her mother won't talk about it.

Five-year-old Summer Wells
went missing in June 2021.

11 acres of forest.

Her toys are still scattered
about in her back yard.

Olivia was one of the people
investigating the case on TikTok.

Summer's parents say
that she was abducted.

At one point, they said that she
just walked out the back door

by herself. A neighbour says they
heard a loud scream around the time

she went missing.

Her parents were not named as
suspects, and there was no evidence

at the time to suggest
they were involved.

Yet they were pursued
by rumours on social media

that they were somehow responsible.

Another rumour is that
one of Summer's siblings say

they saw their father
holding Summer's lifeless body,

running out of the house.

There's a cemetery across the street
from their home.

We spent days searching
for Summer, but found nothing.

Olivia was one of a group
of TikTokers who turned up

outside the parents' house
in Tennessee.

Summer's parents spoke out about
the harm the unfounded allegations

were causing.

This is the hardest time
of me and Candus's life.

You lose your daughter
and then you get blamed for it

and then everybody turns on you.

Her parents didn't want
anyone to really help search

for their missing daughter.

You told me you couldn't
come to church today.

Her parents actually shot
a flare gun at my mother

and I and some friends.
Was that scary? It was,

it was a bit scary.

But I just kind of get in this zone
where I'm like, kind of

in my own little world,
and I don't even really realise.

Does it ever feel like a movie
to you,

almost as a coping mechanism,
like, that distance that you put

between yourself and the case?
I feel a lot of people

will accuse me of, or say that
I sensationalise these stories

and that it's bad.
But I don't see it like that.

I'm a very empathic person.

It's just the way that I edit
that people see it as, like,

a Netflix thing, and that's why they
say I'm sensationalising things.

Two years later,
Summer remains missing.

The police have kept the case open.

OK, here's part six.

And we found two men's ankle socks,
and this was probably a couple

of feet away from where
his remains were found.

I felt it was almost like Olivia
didn't realise the harm this kind

of behaviour could cause the people
living through tragedies.

For people who don't watch this kind
of content, they could find it

quite unusual, quite unusual
that someone would go to the place

where a disappearance has happened,
or murders have happened,

and record it and look
for information.

Do you think it's unusual?

I do see how that could be unusual
for people that aren't on TikTok,

but I think it's a new thing
that is happening

and it will become more normal.
It's the beginning.

It's kind of like the Wild West
out here.

I do worry that I could accidentally
give out wrong information.

I won't go out of my way
to talk about someone,

unless I really believe
that they're really involved.

It's a new type of journalism.

Journalism has changed.

It's not like how it was before.

Now, you don't need a diploma.

You don't need a degree
to really do it.

You just need your phone,
that's all you need.

And sometimes I can even
post controversial things.

I can post about information
that some news companies would need

confirmation about before posting,
but I have just me,

so I could just post it.
I can do that.

I have the power to do that.

So, we finished searching, um,
in the northern part of...

Olivia says she's a journalist,
but what she's doing is not subject

to the codes of practice
that govern traditional media.

I'm obliged not to promote
false or unfounded theories.

We're about half a mile out here,

Over.

At the moment, TikTok regulates
itself and says it removes content

that breaches its community
guidelines, including

misinformation and hate.

The Online Safety Bill is expected
to become law in the UK at the end

of 2023, and says it will force
social media sites to uphold

their commitments to protect users.

If they don't,
they could face hefty fines.

But speculation about the Idaho
murders felt like a free-for-all.

I think that TikTok does
encourage people to participate

more than other apps,

because you can just be sitting
on your couch

and make a video,
and then reach tonnes of people.

One video on TikTok could get
millions of plays,

versus if I post the same video
on Instagram,

it'll get, like, 200 views.

It's much easier to go viral
on TikTok.

And there isn't this barrier
of developing a huge following.

You know, maybe the second video
that you upload, TikTok decides

is a great video to show everyone,
and boom,

you're off to 20 million views.

As something gets more harmful,
things tend to get more engagement.

These algorithmically ranked systems
are all floating bad content

to the top. If you see - oh, this
video, someone's doing something

very dangerous in it and they're
getting a lot of views, cool,

maybe I'll do something dangerous.
You know, someone's doing something

that's very disruptive and damaging,
you know, to their community.

You're like, OK, well, maybe
I will disrupt my community too,

and maybe I will get a lot
of views if I do that.

So how does TikTok deal with this?

Does it actually incentivise users
to take part,

even if it causes harm?

My name is Lara.

I was a content moderator at TikTok
in the Australian market

from 2020 to 2022.

I saw a lot of trends that were
either super dangerous, but people

got the thrill out of being
involved in something.

TikTok has definitely impacted
how people act, how people behave,

how people treat others.

TikTok gives you that opportunity
to see something that's happening

and then suddenly feel like,
Oh, I need to go there.

It's an hour away, I can film myself
doing that, I can be relevant.

I think that's when people forget
that fine line of what is socially

acceptable and what's not, but also
what's legal and what's not.

And then other people are watching
and think that that person is right.

They follow, they copy.

If you were face-to-face
with that person,

you wouldn't be commenting
the things that you are commenting.

But because it feels like
you're just talking to friends,

and you see hundreds of other people
who have also done the same thing,

it becomes much more
socially acceptable.

If you see someone attacking
a person, you clearly know

that's wrong, but that's always
going to be taken off TikTok.

But if you see someone invading
their privacy or bullying them,

that's a bit more grey in terms
of how people

take it in and accept.

In December 2022, a man was arrested
and charged with the murders

of the four Idaho students.
He's awaiting trial.

It seems to me that Olivia and
other TikTokers found themselves

caught up in a sort of frenzy.

As more extreme allegations
were made about the case,

they were encouraged to get
involved, forgetting about

the consequences and the real people
targeted.

So why do these frenzies
happen on TikTok?

When you post a video on TikTok,
rather than just being promoted

to your friends and followers,
it will appear on the feeds

of other users who TikTok thinks
could be interested in it.

Depending on how they engage
with that video, the algorithm

might decide this is something
people like and push it to millions

more at a speed and scale
that doesn't seem possible on other

social media platforms.

After seeing the original
video's success, other users

might then decide to create
their own versions, which in turn

will be sent out to more people.
And the cycle starts again.

And so you have a TikTok frenzy,
often with users pushing it

to new extremes to get noticed,
because the likes and views

make them think that it's OK.

These frenzies are different
on TikTok

because of its emphasis
on participation.

From the outset, when people
came to it as a dance app,

getting involved has been
a key part of its DNA.

TikTok inspires participation
more than any other platform.

I truly believe
it is THE participatory platform.

SCREAM

Oh, yeah!

But the really cool thing about
TikTok and TikTok frenzies,

is that people try...

They don't just recreate it.
They put their own spin on it.

And so you start to see what
the original piece of content was

that went viral and led to
this TikTok frenzy,

and then you'll see, like, the last
video that kind of like blew up

and it's nowhere near the first one.

And it's so cool to see,
like, the creativity

that the community brings
to those TikTok frenzies.

My name is Chris Stokel-Walker.

I'm a journalist and the author
of TikTok Boom.

Traditionally, in social media,
you have been passive consumers -

you've watched videos wash over you
through the app's delivery of them.

But with TikTok, you are actively
encouraged to participate,

and it's because that allows them
to essentially ensure

that you go from being someone
who can dip in and out,

to being someone who is
actively invested in this.

What unfolded on TikTok around
this police investigation

felt different to me.

I wondered whether this
was just a US phenomenon.

But then it happened again.

REPORTER: Just what has happened
to Nikki Bulley?

She vanished from this Lancashire
river bank last Friday morning,

a mum of two young girls
who'd just dropped off at school,

and was taking her dog
for its regular walk.

Nikki's mobile phone was found
on this bench.

It was still connected to
a work conference call.

Her spaniel, a short while later,
was found wandering nearby.

Local people who saw it,
say it was dry

and hadn't been in the river.

That leash was meant to be there
and so was that phone.

It was a set-up.

Similar to Idaho, a frenzy began
around her disappearance.

I spotted it on my TikTok feed
before it totally flooded the news.

According to TikTok, it deploys
additional resources

to reduce the potential spread
of conspiratorial content

about unfolding events.

But as the days went on,
the witch-hunts began,

accusing friends and family
of Nicola of being involved.

FEMALE VOICE: He just gives me
bad vibes. What do you think?

One TikTok account was racking up
millions of views,

posting speculation about Nicola's
friend Emma and her partner Paul.

MALE VOICE: I believe
Emma posed as Nicola

the morning she was
reported missing.

Does this support my theory?

Same socks or same person?

FEMALE VOICE: You can clearly see
Paul's reflection right here

and also note how he is in darkness,

while the girls and Nikki
are photographed with flash.

MALE VOICE: Who are these people and
why were they allowed to be present?

Why are you hiding?

Do they know something we don't?

The person behind this TikTok
account has agreed to meet me.

Hello. Hi!
Lovely to meet you. You too.

Heather had never really used
TikTok before,

but this case caught her attention
on the app.

And she says TikTok inspired her
to get involved.

So I went on TikTok to look at
the real person's perspective

on the Nicola Bulley case.
I think the initial posts

were all just pleas,
trying to find her,

little descriptions
of what she was wearing,

retracing her footsteps
from the day.

But there's the dark side,
where the conspiracists

were unpicking her life,
scrutinising the people involved

in her life, and I think that's then
what engages natural curiosity.

When you're being constantly
surrounded by those kinds of videos,

can it become quite difficult
to say,

"Oh, hold up a second -
is that true, is that false?"

I think it's very easy to fall down,
like, a conspiracy hole.

Any little thing
can become suspicious

when you're looking at it
over and over and almost wanting

to find discrepancies
in people's stories.

MALE VOICE: This is so obvious
to me.

Emma posed as Nicola.

This is meant to be doorbell footage
of Nicola.

Heather posted a video
scrutinising doorbell footage

of Nicola leaving the house
on the morning of her disappearance.

She falsely implied the footage
actually showed

Nicola's best friend Emma
pretending to be Nicola.

I can't be the only one seeing this.

Do they share jewellery?

How viral did it go?

So, it got to 3.6 million
within 72 hours.

That level of explosion
was just completely unexpected.

Whenever you post something
and it gains traction,

TikTok will send you little emails
of encouragement,

telling you that, you've received
this many views,

"You're a hit. Keep going."

And, you know, it's there
to encourage you to keep posting.

If you post something and you
receive a lot of positivity from it,

I think that can definitely
change your behaviour,

whereas, before, you might not
have had that level of empowerment

or entitlement, and now
all of a sudden, you feel that

you've got this authority to keep
posting whatever you've done before.

And I think it does... Definitely
has the power to alter people's

perspective on reality.

There was, I think,
around 10,000 comments

just on that one video alone.

There are obviously, dotted
in there, quite abusive ones -

you know, "You're immoral,"

"you're making money off the misery
of people,"

and that's just not true.

We've got two beautiful little girls
that need their mummy home,

and that's what's keeping us going.

But, again, the community
is united...

As interest in the case grew,

Emma spoke to the media
about the disappearance.

This led to TikTokers
analysing her behaviour

and claiming she was involved.

Emma White is really beginning to
grind on me for a number of reasons.

What's the need for all the make-up?

MALE VOICE: Her make-up is always
done well.

The negative that sticks in my mind
is Emma White,

who I don't trust.

MALE VOICE: I believe the CCTV
footage to be that of Emma.

And it wasn't just Emma.

Nicola's partner Paul also became
a particular target

of false claims on TikTok.

Can you not see through him?

He's lying through his teeth.

What doesn't sit right with me
with this gentleman

is his body language.

Very relaxed, no emotion.

His face... There's some confusion,
as the sides of his mouth go up

and his brow goes down.

It's all so ridiculous,
his head and his scarf.

England is not particularly cold,

so it makes you wonder what
he's trying to hide.

These theories were wrong.

Emma and Paul were innocent.

Lancashire Police said that they
are continuing to see a huge amount

of commentary from so-called
experts, ill-informed speculation,

and conspiracy theories,
which they said was damaging

to the investigation, the community
here in St Michael's

and, most importantly,
to Nicola's family.

They said it must stop.

"Our girls will get the support
they need

"from the people who love them
the most.

"And it saddens us to think
that one day,

"we will have to explain to them
that the press and members of the

"public accused their dad of
wrongdoing...

"..misquoted and vilified
friends and family.

"This is absolutely appalling.

"They have to be held accountable.

"This cannot happen to
another family."

The police announcements didn't stop
some users from posting about

the case, even though
the speculation was causing

serious harm to a family
already living through the worst.

Do you think that when lots and lots
of other people

are posting about something,
sharing their views about it,

and millions of people
are watching it,

do you think it can make us
a bit desensitised?

When you're seeing video after video
after video of the same content,

on the same topic, it's very easy
to just think,

"Well, I can join in on that.
And I'm just another person."

I've had to remind myself,
"These are other people's lives.

"And it's not just a video
that's going to go nowhere -

"it's potentially going to
blow up in your face,

"and then you are accountable."

I think that's the danger of TikTok,
is that if somebody posts something

that isn't factual, then it gets
a lot of views

and then it sort of becomes
a conspiracy.

Since speaking to me,
Heather deleted her posts

about Nicola Bulley.

Heather seemed to really regret
becoming caught up in this frenzy,

and she told me that without TikTok,
she just doesn't think

she would have participated
in this way.

The press was also to blame for
what unfolded around this case,

but it was on TikTok
where some of the misinformation

that couldn't be aired by
the traditional media

spread like wildfire.
It all became really out of control.

A study by the Integrity Institute
measured how much engagement

certain creators received
on inaccurate posts

compared to their other posts.

They found that misinformation
was amplified 25 times on TikTok,

compared to 2.4 times on Instagram

and 3.8 times on Facebook.

The platform that did
the least worst is Instagram,

and that is actually a design...

..an implication
of how Instagram is designed.

It's very much dependent
upon who you follow,

there's no reshare
or retweet button,

and most of the views are not coming
from algorithmic recommendations.

Like the other social media sites,
TikTok do have

specialised misinformation
moderators, equipped with tools

to help keep misinformation
off the platform.

The fact-checking tool
is something they brought in,

and it felt very much as a response
to the criticism

TikTok was getting in the media.

So, they wanted something
for moderators,

so they could look up in real time
what was happening.

Actually using the fact-checking
tool was quite complicated.

Sometimes the fact-checkers
weren't really, like, clear

on what they have to fact-check.

So, for normal users who don't have
this privilege of a fact-check tool,

yeah, it's having
a really real effect.

And it is changing people's minds
about things.

It is quite steep down here.

Similar to Idaho, the frenzy on
TikTok around the Nicola Bulley case

grew exponentially.

Within the first three weeks
of her disappearance,

I found videos using the hashtag of
her name had 270 million views

on TikTok, compared to
just 3.3 million on YouTube.

Yet what was different
was the number of TikTokers

turning up at the scene.

This caused the police
to take the unprecedented move

of calling out the interference
by TikTokers

and issuing a dispersal order
around the area.

TikTokers have been playing
their own private detectives.

In 29 years' police service,
I've never seen anything like it.

It has significantly distracted
the investigation.

Hi, guys. My name is
Spencer Sutcliffe

from Spencer Sutcliffe
Security and Training Ltd...

Locals even employed
a private security firm

to keep TikTokers away.

..all these conspiracy theories
that are going on

and people taking it as fact.

So, if you don't need to come
to the village, guys,

please just stay away.

The caravan site close to the bench
where Nicola went missing

soon became a central focal point
for the TikTok sleuths.

There is a caravan site
with a CCTV blind spot

that the police haven't bothered
to look into.

That's a map of the caravan park,
and as you can see,

it backs onto the river
where Nicola was last seen.

There has been some mention of CCTV,
specifically at the caravan site,

that hasn't been working,
and that that's suspicious itself.

That is not the case.

We have been helped and assisted
beyond all belief

by the caravan owners.

Hello! Hello. Nice to see you.
How are you doing?

Not bad, thank you. Thanks for
having me. You're welcome!

I've come to meet Oliver,
whose family own the caravan site.

So, tell me a bit
about this caravan park.

When did your family come here?

My grandparents bought this place
in the late '90s.

All these fields here
where the campers stay

and the house is owned by my granny.

And she sort of runs the business
and she lives there as well.

Yeah...

THEY LAUGH

I'd spotted how Oliver's
78-year-old grandmother Penny

found herself at the centre of
some TikTok conspiracy theories.

My grandmother was the one who found
poor Nicola's dog

at the bench by the river.

Things sort of snowballed
from there,

as national papers started
to pick up the story,

and then others unfortunately
started to come up

with their own sort of theories
as to what happened.

People talking about
this tragic case online

found out that my grandmother lives
just mere yards

from where Nicola was last seen.

The theories started,
and the TikTok videos, of course,

began to be produced.

And, of course, the theories just
got wilder and wilder.

Within days, if not hours,
that quickly escalated

to people finding out
what my grandmother's name is,

the address being posted online.

People started to physically
turn up in the village

and to start to take photos
of the house.

And one particular TikToker
came onto the property

and started to speak to some of
our customers at our business.

And then the same TikToker
then approached my grandmother.

MAN: We actually came on
just to look around how big it is.

That's all it was.

What do you think you're doing?

Cos it was open, we walked in.
It's not open. Off you go!

Go on, both of you!

So you got...no words to say, no?

No, nothing to say... No, no.

Do you have anything to say
about Nicola Bulley?

Nothing at all! Nothing?
Go on. Nothing at all.

Off you go. OK.

He stood in front of her,
asking her questions,

trying to provoke her,
antagonise her into a reaction.

To have... You know,
my grandmother's a 78-year-old woman

who lives on her own.

To have people effectively come to
her door, filming her, was...

It was frightening for all of us,
as a family.

And she said that she feels like
someone may come and attack her

and to try and kill her.

They've been intrusive,
intimidating, antagonistic -

and all for getting clicks and likes
and to earn money online.

This same TikToker, Curtis Arnold,
achieved notoriety

for his invasive videos
around the case.

A man has been arrested over footage
shot from inside a police cordon

on the day the body
of Nicola Bulley was found

in a river in Lancashire last month.

To try and catch them recovering
a deceased body from the water

is absolutely disgusting.

But even the TikTok community
thought he'd taken it too far

when he shared a video of himself
getting past the cordon

to film the removal
of Nicola's body.

Police say the 34-year-old man
from Kidderminster was detained

on suspicion of malicious
communication offences

and perverting the course
of justice.

TikTok incentivises creators very,
very clearly by paying them money.

If you have a large following
on TikTok and your videos

are getting typically high view
rates, TikTok will pay you,

so there's very, very
clear incentive

to get as many views as possible.

TikTok pays creators with over
10,000 followers between $20 and $40

per million views.

It's unclear how much Curtis Arnold
made from his social media posts.

If you can make this your living,

or if you can build up an audience
and a little bit of credibility

and maybe even some fame
through this,

you're much more likely to log on
every day.

So there's this kind of vicious
circle that you go in,

where you kind of are shown content,
you're encouraged to make content,

you're given the first taste of fame
from that content and, therefore,

you create more and more
and constantly feed that algorithm

for TikTok.

It's almost natural to become
a reverse engineer

of the TikTok algorithm, to do
what the algorithm wants you to do,

do the kind of stuff that gets you
lots of views and impressions.

This will very naturally
sort of influence people's behaviour

and, you know, the videos that
they actually do create.

Do you think that it's changed
how people behave

and how people think it's acceptable
to behave,

these kinds of TikTok videos
and posts online?

I think 20 years ago, this simply
wouldn't have happened.

The village has been turned into
a tourist attraction -

a fairground, almost - where people
think that they can come here

and film our family home as if
it's some sort of macabre exhibit.

TikTok have a responsibility.

And I'd like to ask,
"Do they think they are

"taking that responsibility
seriously enough?"

Cos I certainly don't think
they are.

An inquest has determined
that Nicola's death

was due to accidental drowning.

From investigating these cases,

it seems to me that something new
is happening on TikTok.

The social media site appears to be
recommending this kind of content

to users who just wouldn't
have come across it before,

and then they decide to participate
in a way that they just wouldn't

have done previously. It's almost
like a murder mystery game,

and it gets really out of control.

There are misleading and false
claims targeting innocent people,

and they seem to be enjoyed
by millions.

So, are TikTok aware of
what's going on?

And what are they doing about it?

I've tracked down someone
who used to be on the inside

for some answers.

We've revoiced him and are calling
him Lucas to protect his identity.

I worked in a role in data strategy
and analysis,

particularly focused on revenue

and the profit-driving side
of the business.

Do you think when you were there
that they were equipped

to become more than just
a dancing app,

that they were equipped
to deal with videos about

stuff happening in the news about
a whole range of different issues?

No, because it grew so fast that
they couldn't possibly keep up with

or predicted every single way
the app was going to go.

But in terms of dangerous content,
at least, I haven't ever heard

of them trying to proactively
prevent them from getting big.

And in general, they don't want to.

They don't want to stand in the way
of entertainment growing quickly

on their platform. They don't want
to be content moderators

because then they are responsible
for the content.

You said that phrase -
"They don't want to get in the way

"of entertainment and of growth."

Why is that? Money?

Yeah, it's about money.

The more users they have on
the platform,

spending more time watching videos,

they can sell more ads,
sell them for a higher price.

It feels like an engine to make
revenue off people's time

in unproductive ways.

It feels potentially dangerous,

and it's hard to get excited about
working towards that goal.

It's probably the most addictive
platform that we've encountered yet,

and I think that's a real danger,
especially because of how young

the audience is
and how impressionable they are.

There was evidence that Tiktok's
algorithm was in some way driving

the frenzy of strange behaviour
in both the Bulley and Idaho cases.

But how widespread was the problem?

Was there evidence that TikTok
was connected to other outbreaks

of unusual behaviour?

SHOUTING

Oh, my God!

The so-called "TikTok protests"
have continued to take place

in Britain's schools, as hundreds
of pupils rebelled against teachers

over new rules, with some clips
attracting millions of views.

In February 2023, another frenzy
took hold,

this time in Britain's schools.

A protest at Rainford High
about school uniform checks

was posted on TikTok,

and within three days, students at
over 60 schools filmed protests.

Within a week, there were over
100 schools involved.

Windows were smashed,
trees were set on fire

and teachers were pushed over.

School protests aren't new,

but I noticed that a significant
number of students

seemed to be behaving
in an unusually extreme way.

Some schools were forced
to get police involved.

According to TikTok, most of
the videos showed pupils engaging

in peaceful demonstrations, but
it all felt quite familiar to me -

the sheer speed at which the posts
spread on TikTok

and the way the users
felt emboldened to participate.

Most of the worrying videos
we would see

were by really young users.

These kind of, like, frenzies of,
like, what is currently cool to do

in a school has always
been the case,

but I feel like what TikTok
is enabling people to do now

is to take one thing that's viral
in one school

and transporting it to, like,
the whole region

and making it a competition

in who can up the other schools
and make it more extreme?

TikTok itself will not solve
these problems

because these frenzies,
it is good for the business.

During the school protests,

I decided to see what type of
content the algorithm might offer

a 15-year-old boy's For You feed,

so I set up an undercover account.

Right, so these are all videos
about football

because we've shown an interest
in football.

School uniforms -
what is it?

It's a lovely thing provided
by the school...

It's not even provided
by the schools, by the way.

It looks shit, it feels shit and it
costs way too much for what it is.

The fourth post that came up
was an influencer called Adrian,

who posts self-improvement videos,
and seemed to be encouraging

anti-school behaviour.

You know school is pointless
and you know it's not helping you

prepare for your future
one little bit.

What are we doing here?!

I'll tell you what - being slaves
to the government, making sure

the institution that is a worker
and slave development plan

continues to function...

Over the next few days,
the algorithm drove

more and more of his content
to my feed.

Some bitch told me I need to sit
here in this shitty plastic chair.

They have the audacity
to tell the youth

what to do with their future!

I teach not to be reliant on
higher-ups and teachers. I teach...

Attached to Adrian's account
is a link to his business.

Thousands of teachers across the UK
are worried about me.

They literally did me a favour.

They gave me free exposure.

Thank you to those of you
who continue to stand up for me

against schools, against teachers,
against the boards.

I started to look at some of
the comments under his videos.

Many seemed to be from teenage boys
in the UK.

They suggested that some of them
were changing their behaviour

after watching Adrian's videos.

Others pushed back after noticing
the behaviour of their friends.

Adrian's agreed to have
a conversation with me.

I want to ask him about his content
and the impact it could be having.

..every single day
without realising...

Not one single piece of content,
not one video that I've put out

is in any way with misinformation
or with hate speech or anything,

any kind of negative impact
towards my audience.

I encourage them to rebel against
ridiculous rules in schools,

where you're discouraged
from simple communication.

I mean, you know, it's crazy.

What do you think about
those kinds of protests?

Do you think they've gone too far?

Do you think that they still are
within the means of legitimate,

I don't know, opposition
to school rules?

I think these things are very rare

and they're definitely extreme,
to say the least,

cos if you look at my following.
Let's say...

I've got 1.2 million followers
on my account,

let's say, of which...let's chop it
down to 800K are schoolchildren.

How many of those children,
realistically, were involved

in those acts? I mean, a tiny,
tiny percentage.

I can't control that.

How do you balance making sure
that you are encouraging people

to express what they think,
but not to take it too far

and actually to, you know, harass
teachers or call them horrible names

or make sure that they're not
behaving in, like,

a violent way towards
other people at school?

I mean, how do you tread that line?

Or is it not possible to,
with your content?

Ultimately, if I'm putting out
a video

to 1.5 million people, I'm not...

I absolutely cannot cover

for the 200 out of
those 1.5 million people

who decide to do something
absolutely ridiculous.

I mean, in none of my videos
will you ever see me condone

anything like the things
that you've listed up.

I think to say that social media
and TikTok in particular

or my content is to blame for
these things, it's completely false.

What was interesting about
the school frenzy

was that it was real world
from the off.

Users could participate immediately.

That was maybe one reason
why it spiked so quickly

and with such intensity.

A few months later, in June,
I spotted some more protests

involving young people
unfolding in France.

Protests and unrest erupted
in the region around Paris overnight

after police shot dead a 17-year-old
who failed to stop when ordered to.

The statement from the police saying
the police officers

were feeling threatened
and had to shoot,

but this video posted
on social media

had a completely different tell
of the story.

This is what created a lot of anger.

The French President
Emmanuel Macron

is holding a crisis meeting
right now.

He has called for calm.

They stole a bus and burned it.

The French President levelled
the blame at TikTok and Snapchat.

TRANSLATION:

Was there another TikTok frenzy
at play?

Or was the French President
just deflecting responsibility

from a shocking incident
that provoked mass unrest?

I looked through the content
spreading on social media

using Nahel's name.

On Snapchat, I found public videos
racking up over 167,000 views.

That doesn't include private chats
that I can't access.

Even then, on TikTok,
videos using this hashtag

racked up over 853 million views.

Quite a few of the TikToks
were Snapchat videos reshared

with a much higher reach than just
friends or those who live locally.

The kind of problem
that we're seeing now is

bad behaviour in one part
of the world

can very quickly spread
to other parts of the world.

And so, you know, when you log on
to TikTok, in some respects,

you're looking at
all of the bad behaviour

from all of the different locations
in the country, all at once,

and so, you know, it's only natural
to imagine

that's going to inspire
some copycatting.

The French protests
don't surprise me.

TikTok can definitely drive
more eyeballs in a way

that escalates situations.

I don't think it can
validate behaviour.

Groupthink is very real,
especially in places like TikTok.

I do think TikTok wants to
de-amplify content

that's explicitly dangerous,

but it doesn't want to overly censor
or slow things down

which are developing as viral.

And that can be a tricky line
to walk.

But on the other hand, TikTok
can make people aware of protests

in a positive way too.

I spotted several videos
showing violence and devastation

in a town called Viry-Chatillon.

Protests seem to have spread
at an unusually fast rate

and with an unusual intensity.

Bonjour! Bonjour, Marianna!

What part did TikTok play here?

Jean is the town's mayor.

The French EU Commissioner
criticised social media sites

for not doing enough
to deal with the content.

As a moderator, it felt like
you were there as kind of a front

for TikTok to say that
they were trying their best.

But you were very much aware
while you were moderating

that this is an impossible task
because of the speed of how quickly

someone can upload something and it
being available for everyone to see.

You're constantly playing catch-up
with, like, an invisible beast,

which the algorithm is. It's
kind of like wildfire spreading.

So you can kind of put out
the main fire,

but, like, all of the little fires
are still there

and people can see it and...

Yeah, it's dangerous.

SCREAMING

Only weeks after my trip to Paris,
something else happened -

disorder in the centre of London,
with hundreds of teenagers

descending on Oxford Circus,
talking about looting the shops.

Police issued a dispersal order.

Sadiq Khan directly blamed
social media.

I'm worried about this nonsense
we've seen on TikTok

encouraging people
to go to Oxford Street.

I'd encourage anybody
who's seen that not to go.

Don't allow yourself to be sucked in
by this sort of criminality.

What seemed to have started
on Snapchat, like in France,

had been picked up and shared
more widely on TikTok.

Several I've spoken to told me that
if they hadn't seen those videos

on TikTok, they wouldn't
have turned up.

If I was a copper today, I'd
be absolutely furious with TikTok,

and I want the Government
to throw the book at that lot.

That should never have been
allowed up.

When I first started using TikTok
during the Covid-19 pandemic,

it was all dances and life hacks.

Now almost every major
global news event

unfolds on my For You page
in real time,

including events I just wouldn't
have come across before.

When I first heard about
those Idaho murders,

I had no idea what I'd uncover.

Having spoken to TikTok insiders and
people caught up in these frenzies,

it seems to me that they're really
difficult to get on top of -

and not just that,
but there isn't the incentive to.

After all, a slower
and less participatory TikTok

doesn't seem to be the goal
for the social media company.

All of these frenzies
seem really out of control,

but what happens when someone
works out how to harness them -

and the behaviour connected
to them - for their own aims?

That seems pretty scary.

Do you think TikTok is good or bad
for the world?

I think it's probably
a net negative.

I don't believe that a platform
with short, addictive videos

consuming so much of our time
can be a positive.

If you had children,
would you let them use TikTok?

No, definitely not. I would not
let any of my children use TikTok.

I think it's impossible
to work at TikTok

and to then send your children
on that site as well.

It's very telling that all of the
CEOs of big social media companies,

their children aren't on
social media platforms.

So, long term, I do think
it is necessary for regulation

to step in and create
real incentives for platforms

to design responsibly.

If you just want to maximise,
you know, your usage next week,

show people lots of misinformation,
show people hate speech,

you know, show people dangerous,
violent content,

that is what is going to get people
to watch your platform next week.

If you want to maximise
how many people are using your app

a year from now
or five years from now,

you're going to have to think about
something very, very different.