“Cuties” and the TikTokification of Childhood

By Kent R. Kroeger (September 16, 2020)

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-HI) Tweet about the new Netflix movie, “Cuties”

Real people. Real videos.

That’s the tagline for TikTok, the video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company founded in 2012. Its users are able to create 3 to 60 second videos, often including simple special effects designed to attract viewers and encourage…