If you want to make informative videos about slightly taboo topics on social media, you risk having the video removed. Synnøve Dørum has experienced that. – I remember I made a short video last year, where I mentioned one of the effects of watching pornography, she says. Content creators use passwords to prevent the videos from being removed. Photo: Privat The video was removed from TikTok due to policy violations. She does not know whether someone had reported it or whether the app’s algorithms had removed it. Dørum made another video on the same topic, but this time she used a code word. Then the video was not removed. – I started making videos where I said parma instead of porn, she explains. Can become taboo Dørum is involved in society and takes up topics that many find difficult to talk about. She has received a lot of positive feedback on this, but she still thinks it’s a shame that TikTok’s guidelines make it difficult to produce such content. – Of course, I understand this about sparing the children, and that it is uncomfortable to think that children should have any knowledge at all about something we consider adult things. But children take things with them, children see things, and then you have to try to ensure that it happens in a safe environment, explains Dørum. She is afraid that this will lead to more words becoming taboo or shameful. – When children grow up and see that everything that has to do with slightly more serious topics comes with words that have been replaced with another, then you make it seem taboo. Algorithms decide Melanie Magin is professor of media sociology at NTNU. She believes that it is important to understand why posts are removed. – It is not people who decide, but there are algorithms that filter out what is not ok to write on social media according to their rules, she explains. Melanie Magin has a PhD in communication science, and researches the influence of traditional and mass media in society. Photo: Christof Mattes / JGU Mainz Furthermore, she explains that words that are often used in contexts that are not in line with the platform’s guidelines are often removed by the algorithms. This crashes with content creators like Dørum, who want to talk about such topics. The media sociologist does not believe that there is any simple solution to this. – I think it is always important that users think before they write, so that they express themselves in a way that is okay. A way where you are not aggressive towards others or write very bad things, she says. Not the law When words are censored on social media, the media sociologist believes that it can affect how people express themselves elsewhere in society. – If people see that words are censored on social media, they may get the feeling that it has something to do with freedom of expression, she says. Magin points out that it is important to distinguish between the Norwegian law and the guidelines of the platforms. – If, for example, Facebook or TikTok censors something, then it is not censorship in line with the law, she explains. In Norway, we have full freedom of expression, as long as it does not break the law. Social platforms like TikTok have their own guidelines that users must follow. A safe place for children Dørum also thinks that it is difficult to come up with a solution to this topic. – TikTok does have an age limit, but there are a lot of people who are under the age limit. You can only count on the fact that you are over 16, she says. Synnøve Dørum is socially engaged on TikTok. Photo: Privat Dørum itself has received a positive response from users who turn out to be under the age limit. – That’s what I mean by children also having to know what things are, because it’s not like they won’t get over it, she says. But not everyone is equally keen to talk about difficult topics in a safe environment, and that is what makes it difficult. – It is impossible to make the internet a very safe place for children. You can do it to the best of your ability, but either it ends up being over-censored, or it becomes free range, says Dørum.
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Censorship of words on TikTok – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
