TikTok Banning #AutismChallenge Content

Another proof that stupidity and ignorance reigns supreme on any social media platform (with Facebook currently the king of the hill) is the #autismchallenge that went wild on TikTok.

This new trend where users do all sorts of movements making a mockery of people with autism right down to the facial expressions has garnered disgust from people from all sectors for being “disgusting and insensitive”.

TikTok will be be taking action for videos posted with the hashtag.

“As someone who has autism, Asperger syndrome, it hurts me to see people doing this as a joke,” wrote one Twitter user. “I hope (for) people that did the challenge to be educated and learn that this is wrong.”

One of the main drivers in the US, the Autism Society of America had issued a public statement about the TikTok challenge and pleaded to remove it in it’s entirety in the platform.

“Every individual, regardless of neuro-diversity, should be treated with dignity and respect,” the statement reads. “The Autism Society demands that TikTok takes the necessary action to end this offensive challenge, and apologize to the autism and disability communities for this shameful activity.”

TikTok has since removed the offensive hashtag and videos from their platform.

In my opinion though, TikTok should look into penalizing the account that started this trend. A little radical but maybe they should ban or penalize whoever started this trend but that would be hard to try though as its become viral so its as hard as finding Patient Zero for the Coronavirus or COVID-19.

This isnt the first time TikTok had seen controversy. Just a few weeks ago, they were called out for the “Andrew E/ Banyo Queen challenge” where women were doing videos showing their “O-faces” or “Ahegao” faces.