Manila, Philippines – July 2021 – As a platform committed to providing its users with a friendly, inclusive environment where they can freely and creatively express themselves, TikTok actively takes measures to address important issues such as negativity and cyberbullying within its community. Its recently-launched global campaign, #CreateKindness, aims to boost awareness about cyberbullying, and promote kindness and inclusion online.
In line with the global campaign, TikTok held a #CreateKindness Conversations webinar, which featured various creators and resource speakers who spoke about cyberbullying, and protecting one’s mental wellbeing when faced with discrimination and other issues on social media.
According to Kristoffer Rada, TikTok Head for Public Policy, “TikTok believes that all online communities should be safe from bullying. These spaces should be free of judgment, and promote positive online behavior. The #CreateKindness campaign’s mission is to spark kindness across the platform, bringing awareness and ensuring a positive environment. Helping us in ensuring kindness remains on the platform, we join the Philippine government, as well as various NGOs, in their aggressive campaign against cyberbullying, ensuring mental health awareness and digital. well-being.”
The #CreateKindness campaign also serves as the launchpad for TikTok’s anti-bullying animated video series, which offers perspectives from different creators on how choosing kindness can help combat harmful behavior on the app.
TikTok creator, Julienne Ipapo, was one of the speakers, as well as the host, for the webinar. She is known to share inspirational content revolving around wisdom, wellness, and stories of day-to-day life on the platform.
Having been bullied at a young age, Julienne knows how one’s words can truly affect other people. During the webinar, she shared, “Our words have the power to lift people up. To make people’s day or to break people. There’s so much negativity and hurting in this world. May we choose our words and actions wisely, may we walk humbly, may we practice compassion and #CreateKindness online, and in our physical realm, to create this chain reaction of spreading love, and hope to combat the bad that lurks around in society, and in the world.”
Josel Anne Miolata, a registered psychometrician and member of the Philippine Mental Health Association, Inc. (PMHA) also shared her insights during the #CreateKindness webinar. PMHA is a not-for-profit organization that provides premier medical health services to Filipinos through education, advocacy, intervention, and research. An active member of the organization, Josel manages several volunteers involved in PMHA’s ongoing project that provides mental health and psychosocial support services to anyone who needs it.
At the webinar, Josel defined cyberbullying, and discussed the negative effects it may have on a person’s psychological and physical health, as well as academic performance, and how it may result in depression and a high risk of suicidal ideation. She also shared expert advice for how to respond to cyberbullies. “It is important to know and be aware of the effects of cyberbullying. We cannot correct bad behavior if we do not know if the behavior is bad. Knowing that your actions and behavior can affect other people can help stop bullying,” she said.
Another TikTok creator who spoke during the webinar is Alec Cuenca. He is the host of Small Talk!, one of the top podcasts in the Philippines, as well as a motivational speaker. At the webinar, he shared a personal story about how he created kindness in his own life after a series of unfortunate events and circumstances.
Alec said that, even as a motivational speaker on TikTok, he still receives negative comments. Now, however, he believes that he has an opportunity to turn all this negativity into something positive. “Kindness starts within,” he shared. “We go to social media, trying to look for positivity, trying to look for kindness, for love, for inspiration, for motivation. But we rarely see that most of the kindness that we want to seek out from the world, we can actually create, and it will come back to us tenfold in the future.”
The final speaker for the webinar was Ms. Maribeth Santiago-Chua, who works as a Senior Technical Assistant for the Child Protection Unity of the Department of Education. She discussed the DepEd’s efforts to educate the public, particularly the youth, about the inhumanity and dangers of cyberbullying, through the creation of the Child Protection Unit, which ensures that students have a safe learning environment. She also explained how they promote kindness to the youth, teach them about the different kinds of bullying, and encourage them to speak up. Along with these initiatives, they also develop lesson plans for teachers, incorporating life skills on how to protect yourself against bullying, and how not to grow up a bully.
Ms. Maribeth said at the webinar that parents play an important role in combatting bullying. “You have to make sure that your child doesn’t grow up to be a bully, so you have to be there with them,” she said. “There are so many opportunities to instill the value of kindness. If you think it’s not right, share it with your child. If you’re not sure it’s right, ask other parents.”
You, too, can take part in celebrating kindness and preventing cyberbullying on TikTok by joining the #CreateKindness hashtag challenge. Post your own content on the platform that shows compassion for others, and leave comments on others’ videos that can inspire them to spread kindness, too. Download TikTok on your iOS and Android devices today to get started.
