An anonymous participant on the popular Facebook page “BHUTAN News & Forums pointed out a pertinent issue. A group of girls, Kuensel found out to be classmates of a middle secondary school in the capital, were openly discussing a girl in their class on TikTok, live. Some of the remarks were derogatory that could affect the girl.
The “anonymous participant” claiming to be a victim of bullying was cautioning and alerting authorities and parents to be cautious about their children’s engagement on the most popular social media app in the country. The concerns raised timed with the visit of senior officials from TikTok’s South Asia office to Bhutan to explore potential partnership.
If our authorities like the Bhutan Information, Communication, and Media Authority could partner with TikTok to establish necessary guidance for the facilitation and regulation of Bhutanese TikTok users, we could look into regulating some of the issues the popular social media is forcing us to comprehend.
Like many, Bhutan is seeing the ill side of the social media platform. TikTok was once seen solely as an entertainment app, its unregulated freedom for content creation and product promotion unfortunately became a space for unwanted things, with severe repercussions.
Like in many countries, TikTok has become a platform that allows users to demean, disgrace and bully others. In some recent cases, TikTok is blamed for driving people to commit suicide. TikTok is the most downloaded social media application globally. It could be the number one in Bhutan if we consider how children as young as eight are using TikTok to entertain themselves.
Using the social media platform to create, share and discover short videos in itself is not harmful. There is no harm in enabling young people using the app as a platform to express themselves through singing, dancing or lip-syncing and share them across communities to showcase their talents. Some are making a living from TikTok. However, the danger, as many communities are seeing, is how it is misused to exploit or harm other users. As TikTok penetrates into rural Bhutan, across all ages with a smartphone, many are feeling the ill side of the application. It is used as a platform for cyberbullying, misinformation or creating disharmony.
Many countries have banned TikTok for reasons including national security. In our case, we may be not concerned about security, but the misuse of it is becoming a concern. Banning it may not be a solution, but we need to raise our concerns when officials are in the country.
The details of discussion with our policymakers are not clear, but we could surmise that our officials raised concerns of the bad side of TikTok. TikTok, besides its opportunity, comes with a lot of risks. The parents of the girl who was the subject of discussion on a live conversation would want the government to ban TikTok! The law enforcers who are seeing complicated cases related to TikTok would want them to be responsible.
For small Bhutan, the sheer power of TikTok to influence is overwhelming.