The Dirty Truth About Being A TikTok Star

In 2019, TikTok had to implement a reporting system to report bullies, because harassment was so frequent and algorithms weren't cutting it. The app's community guidelines say, "We do not tolerate members of our community being shamed, bullied, or harassed. Abusive content or behavior can cause severe psychological distress and will be removed from our platform. We remove all expressions of abuse, including threats or degrading statements intended to mock, humiliate, embarrass, intimidate, or hurt an individual." It's difficult for TikTok to flag all of the above, so reporting bullying is the best tool users have to stop it from continuing.

Of course, there is overt bullying, and then there are dangerous pranks seemingly meant to poke fun at people. For instance, the "Skull Breaker Challenge" has landed many people in the hospital. The challenge involves kicking the legs out from under someone while they're jumping in the air. Some people did this willingly, but many unsuspecting "participants" were seriously injured, Fox News reports.

Still, even TikTok's biggest stars have been on the receiving end of hatefulness. A UNICEF video features Charli and Dixie D'Amelio discussing the bullying they have experienced online. Charli said she's received a lot of negative comments about her appearance, understandably admitting, "Getting hundreds of thousands of hate comments per week is a lot to handle." The time-tested retort, "They're just jealous," might still apply, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

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