Why do teens play traumatic historical events on TikTok?

But North says it goes further than that, too – in 2020, social awareness is key. She hypothesizes that a growing global culture of social justice might make people want to educate others – no matter how misguided it is.

“There is a real thirst for making statements, protesting and raising awareness… it’s always surprising people do this, but it’s no surprise that people are doing something horrible on TikTok because they are drawn to it. “

Some users explained that their videos wanted to raise awareness or educate people about historical or social events. But North says that alone isn’t enough as he doesn’t do enough to understand the atrocities that have taken place.

“They are downright hurtful to an individual or a group because they are interested in a subject of which they do not understand the gravity of the situation.”

This is a view shared by the Holocaust Center of New Zealand, whose chief executive told Newshub he felt “disgusted” by the Nazi genocide-centric content of the Jewish people.

“For young people to think that dressing and putting on makeup gives them an understanding of what happened is totally unacceptable – they are real victims – people who have suffered the worst that humanity can inflict on them,” Chris Harris said.

“As much as TikTok was trying to create awareness, I think it didn’t work, it’s callous and pokes fun at the Holocaust.”