Quite extraordinary! I don’t personally know many people who like/share/save or comment upon diarrhea videos … do you? 

Nevertheless, what was even more extraordinary is that a significant percentage of the 8,200 commenters said, “I’m literally sitting on the toilet right now, and this video pops up!” or words to that effect.  

As we all know, when 8,200 individuals are “commenting” on something, there are between 100 times and 1,000 times as many who have the same thought but don’t care to comment.  Hence, we can infer that hundreds of thousands of women were shown this video while they were sitting on the toilet. 

Putting aside the cringe-factor for just a minute, one might reasonably ask how exactly TikTok knew that period-associated diarrhea would be an interesting subject to a certain subset of women. 

I can think of only two answers.  Perhaps TikTok is collecting personal content from cellphones to ascertain information, including the gyn and gastrointestinal habits of its users. 

For example, are cellphones’ cameras, recorders, text messages, emails, menstrual-tracking apps, etc. being accessed by TikTok, enabling relevant videos to be served-up? 

Personally, I find such invasiveness hard to believe — not to mention that it would be highly resented by most users. 

The only other answer I can think of is that TikTok somehow is able to infer from mathematical algorithms that certain patrons would be interested in our diarrhea video based on other videos they’ve watched, what content they may have searched, etc.  But that explanation also seems far-fetched based on the number of women we can reasonably infer viewed this video in close proximity to the actual confluence of the menstrual periods and the intestinal aberration. 

So, I’m simply at a loss to explain why this particular video went viral.

The larger question, however, is that if TikTok can somehow know very personal information about its users, is it possible for its IT geniuses to glean exactly which of its users are involved with highly sensitive national security information, and indeed what exactly that information may be? 

Furthermore, if TikTok knows that a certain woman experiences diarrhea around the time of her menstrual cycles, does it also know certain information about a wide range of users that could make them vulnerable to blackmail? 

For example, “We will reveal such-and-such about you unless you comply with our demands.”

TikTok has been able to somehow determine content preferences of its users with uncanny specificity.  That has, of course, been the key to its success.  Minute-for-minute, users are finding its videos more interesting/enjoyable to watch compared to similar videos served up on competitors’ platforms.  We tip our hats to TikTok. 

On the other hand, what’s really going on behind the scenes here, and what should be done about it?

Clinton B. Ashford, M.D., FACOG resides in Athens, Georgia, specializing in perimenopausal medicine and problem periods. His website is at www.DrAshford.com, and he can be reached by email at clintonashford@gmail.com. 

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License