Cursed TikToks (@ToxicTikToks), a popular Twitter account, has been suspended from the platform.
The account was made popular by posting the cringiest of the cringiest TikTok videos ever made, including videos featuring people dancing awkwardly or lip-syncing badly. When Twitter suspended the account, Cursed TikToks had over 338,000 followers.
@Tabootiktoks, an Instagram page claiming to be associated with the Twitter account, is pointing the finger at Jukin Media, a media company that purchases viral videos from the creators, and then licenses them for news outlets or other companies to use.
The Instagram account says that someone working for Jukin Media contacted Cursed TikToks to let it know that the company owned rights to six of the videos posted on the Twitter account. The Instagram account added that Jukin Media did not identify which videos they owned. Therefore, Cursed TikTok was unable to find and take down the six videos.
Jukin Media then filed five copyright complaints, permanently suspending the popular Twitter account, according to the Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1K_X_Zhig4/?igshid=1v6h3p4kkdyvk
“After speaking with a variety of people, I have learned that this is a common practice for Jukin,” @Tabootiktoks wrote. “To buy semi-viral video rights from people who don’t know any better and use it to attempt to leverage and extort money from people who don’t know any better and use it to attempt to leverage and extort money from accounts and channels that repost them.”
If Jukin Media owns a video, it gets to decide who can post the content–and for what price. The Instagram account claims that Jukin wanted $600 in resolution, which Cursed TikToks did not have. The Instagram account dubbed it the “end of an era.”
“I’m sorry I can’t curate bad content for you anymore,”@Tabootiktoks wrote.
Update 5:00pm CT, Aug. 16: Mike Skogmo, head of marketing and communications at Jukin Media, denied the allegations in a phone interview with the Daily Dot. Skogmo claims that a troll account, pretending to be a representative for Jukin Media, filed DMCA reports with Twitter against the Cursed TikTok account. The alleged troll account also appeared to be using Skogmo’s photo for its Twitter avatar.
“Jukin Media did not issue the takedown,” Skogmo said. “The DMCA notices against the account were not filed by Jukin Media; rather they were filed by a fake troll account, presumably to make Jukin look bad.”
Skogmo said that Jukin Media reported the “fake account,” JukinEthan, on Aug. 15. “This account doesn’t exist,” is what the Twitter account for @JukinEthan now reads.
“We understand that the account is now deactivated … We’ve also discovered an Instagram account with the JukinEthan handle and have reported that account,” Skogmo said. “We’re in the process of contacting the Cursed TikToks account to explain the situation.”
This post has been updated to include comments from a Jukin Media spokesperson.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @Tabootiktoks.
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