Desperate vibes as under-16s crowd into Yope and Lemon8 |
Previously little-known social media platforms are stuck at the top of app store charts as young Australians seek shelter from the social media ban in places they previously tended to ignore.
So, what are the vibes like inside these refuges?
Lemon8 is the most prominent of the alternative apps. It feels a lot like a TikTok take on Instagram, as it should, given it’s powered by TikTok parent company Bytedance. You have grids of images and videos posted by people you follow, as well as an endless scroll of algorithmic “for you” content. It has even more of a Wild West feel than Instagram, fairly innocuous skincare and food posts mixed with extreme sports, highly sexualised engagement bait, lewd jokes and plenty of fake news.
Lemon8 claims to have more lifestyle, fashion and wellness content than TikTok, but it’s very similar.
I could feel the algorithm trying to grasp on to the kind of content I wanted over the course of the day I used it, and although I was mainly trying to find new Australian users escaping the social ban, I was also getting increasingly aggressive generic rants and gun, motorbike and military content.
There are many recent posts discussing the desperate move from TikTok to Lemon8 to dodge the ban, some of........