Opinion | Social media and shopping should stay separate entities

In a society where we already overconsume so much content, we do not need social media to make it worse than it already is. Social media should be a platform for content creation, sharing pictures and videos and just an overall peaceful place where you can mindlessly scroll for hours. What it should not be is a shopping platform. 

In February, Instagram calmed down with its shopping feature, and now it no longer takes up an entire icon on the dashboard. The shop icon is now replaced by Instagram Reels. Shopping on the app has become more subtle. Brands can tag products that bring us to their shopping page if we’re interested in something we see, but it’s not shoved down our throats to buy something as it was previously. 

TikTok, however, needs to chill out with its shopping feature. It feels like every other video I see on my For You Page is an ad for something, trying to get me to go to their TikTok shop. I’ll sometimes even get ads for products that have nothing to do with what I’ve been liking. Instead of the algorithm pushing more videos similar to what I’ve liked in the past, it’s just pushing products for the sake of doing so, hoping that someone, anyone, will potentially buy it. 

Another thing that really frustrates me about TikTok’s shopping platform is that the tab is right next to the For You Page. If I’m swiping through videos and my swipe is accidentally too horizontal rather than vertical, I get brought to the shopping tab. Being unintentionally brought to the shopping tab is an annoying inconvenience. Why can’t I just scroll through funny OG Fortnite TikToks and watch the tea about Matt Rife unfold without feeling like I’m constantly being sold something? 

The shop started out as a great way for small businesses to get their stuff out there. With TikTok’s algorithm, just one or two viral videos can dramatically improve one’s small business, and I totally sympathize with why some people want to sell through TikTok. It is a lot easier to gain attention for your handmade products on TikTok than it is on, say, Etsy. The TikTok algorithm can easily make all that hard work pay off. However, the market has now become so oversaturated it’s hard to distinguish who you’re actually buying from — an actual small business, a dropshipper or just another company trying to make more money on another social media platform. 

Dropshipping is when a seller or retailer sells goods on their platform that they themselves don’t actually keep in stock. Whenever they receive an order on their website, they will then send that order forward to the company that actually manufactures or stocks the product and they will ship it out directly to the buyer. This makes the TikTok shop people the “middleman,” and thus they’re able to charge more for the stuff they’re selling. Some dropshippers will even disguise themselves as small businesses in order to gain sympathy from people who want to support smaller businesses. 

It seems like TikTok Shop doesn’t have much regulation on what can or can’t be sold, nor does it regulate the promotion of such items. The “eligible for commission” notice right under the TikTok Shop link in a creator’s video indicates that they are making money off of anyone buying from their link. How much the creators actually earn from these links depends on various factors, such as what the product is, how much it costs and the size of the creator’s following. If a creator has more followers, they’ll have a higher chance of reaching a wider audience, which can increase the number of people influenced to buy from them and their link — and hence make more money. 

Since this feature rolled out, I have seen nearly everyone’s videos labeled as “eligible for commission” on their platforms. And sometimes they’re promoting the weirdest, most off-brand product. Like why are you, as a comedy content creator, trying to sell me “sexy Christmas pajamas” or “goddess tea for weight loss”? And how is it even allowed that someone with no knowledge or expertise in weight loss is trying to sell me some magic tea leaves that claim to make the fat slide right off my body? Turns out, it’s actually not allowed. 

On TikTok’s prohibited products page, one of the things that you can’t sell relating to body and mental wellness are “products and supplements that claim to aid in weight management, fat reduction, or similar goals.” But I still see a handful of creators promoting these types of things just to make a quick buck. I don’t doubt that the TikTok team is working hard to take down some of the sketchier items on the Shop page, but they definitely should be more strict with what goes up on the shop and not let random people make false claims about a product for the sake of making some money. 

At this point, anytime I see something that is “eligible for commission” I almost always immediately skip the video, which, it turns out, is a lot of skipping. The only exceptions I make are for people who I have been following since before the feature, such as professional makeup artists and personal trainers. I’ll typically hear them out when they have a product linked for commission because I trust their content and I know they actually believe in and use the stuff they’re recommending. Am I going to buy from them though? No. 

Though I am easily influenced, I like to feel like I have a choice in deciding what I want to spend my money on. Having products shoved down my throat in videos telling me how good they are and how they’ll change my life is not going to make me want them more. If I see that someone is recommending a product for no other reason than because they really like it and want to share with the world — they’re not gaining anything out of this monetarily — I am much more inclined to want to get it. 

That all being said, social media should be a place for fun, light-hearted content, or whichever kind of content you like to consume. It should not be another platform to promote the overconsumption of goods. If we wanted to spend our time shopping instead of scrolling, trust me, we would. 

Kelly Xiong writes about all things fashion, beauty, personal health and sometimes pop culture. You can write to her at jux13@pitt.edu