There's a War Going on Between Straight and Alt TikTok, and Yes It's a Little Confusing

If you are wondering what "Alt TikTok" is, it's most likely because you're not part of Alt TikTok. It's not an exclusive club or anything — it's more like a state of mind. And right now, there's a pretty heated war between Alt TikTok and Straight TikTok. If you're even more confused now, we'll break things down for you. 

Alt TikTok is a response to the popular videos on TikTok that show influencers (like members of Hype House) dancing and starting "mainstream" trends like "Wipe It Down" and setting background audio to Melanie Martinez's "Play Date." When you probably think of TikTok, you probably think of "Straight TikTok" (and no, it seemingly has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community — although this *is* referenced, but we'll get to that in a second). Alt TikTok consists of arbitrary, random fixations (like #FreeAdam2020) and other "underground" trends.

Alt TikTok brings back the "I can't put my finger on why this makes me laugh/feel seen" kind of content that was so prevalent on platforms like Vine (or even Musically back before it became TikTok). Kind of like the "Attack of the Umbrellas" Vine.

Here's an example of what would be considered Alt TikTok now:

Apparently Straight TikTokers now want to create content that would be considered Alt TikTok, and Alt TikTok isn't having any of it. This seemingly all started when Alt TikTok started mocking Straight TikTok and popular TikToker @avani (who apparently used to be Alt TikTok — until she sold out) became pretty defensive about it.

Twitter user @cloudierosie explained, "Okay so alt. tiktok made a fake audio to mock the trends on straight tiktok and Addison and avani both fell for it and made videos using it and she made five tweets about the whole situation."

Avani responded in a now-deleted tweet, saying, "it's to show that 'straight' people will dance to anything and this audio was basically made to make fun of people who dance to thirst traps and random noises. that's why it's called 'straight tiktok.'" 

Avani also wrote, "elite tiktok we stand strong!!! stay away from straight tiktok!!!" To which a Twitter user responded, "But you are straight TikTok."

Now, people are joining in and adding their two cents.

Not exactly. Twitter user @rileycollinz probably explains it best, saying "not really straight tiktok is more just the dancing hype side of tiktok while gay/alt tiktok would be more gen z humor, talking about trauma and how terrible your life is, and making fun of people. It's more what you like [than] your sexuality." 

But there have been some comparisons of Straight TikTok to straight people wanting to join the LGBTQ community and feeling left out when they realize it doesn't work that way.

Now that you get Alt TikTok and Straight TikTok, whose side are you on? JK! Regardless of how you feel, TikTok in all forms is mean to be a creative outlet for everyone. Let's please be kind to each other (and if you feel like you're being cyber-bullied there are resources for you!).