As an avid TikTok user and supporter of the platform, I am personally affected as I have a strong aversion to seeing people eat or excessively chew their food without warning. This reaction is more common than many realize; it's a phenomenon called misophonia, a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses others may perceive as unreasonable. According to a 2011 study by Pawel and Margaret Jastrzębski, roughly 20% of individuals share this discomfort (2011, Jastrzębski and Jastrzębski).

Importantly, the issue involves not just personal discomfort, but also courtesy and respect for all users’ experiences on the platform. It's no secret that TikTok promotes respect and encourages positive engagement among its users. However, the unexpected visuals of individuals eating or excessively chewing food, especially in live videos where content cannot be previewed or filtered, undermines these values for users like me, and many others.

Hence, I propose that TikTok adopt a policy requiring users to tag or provide a content warning if a live video will feature eating, excessive chewing or so-called 'mukbang' content. Such a feature fits within TikTok’s existing infrastructure for tagging and viewer discretion advisories, and could significantly improve the individual user experiences for the 20% of the population troubled by such visuals.

Join me in urging TikTok to take this simple yet necessary step towards inclusivity and user comfort. Please sign and share this petition to make TikTok a more accommodating platform for everyone.