“I missed you”: on TikTok, “old” netizens moved by their portrait rejuvenated by a filter

With 260 million views already, it’s hard to miss the latest TikTok trend. The Chinese social network has introduced the “Teenage Look” filter (“teenage aspect”, in French). Once activated, it displays a rejuvenated version of the users at the top of the screen and their current face at the bottom.

If similar filters had already been offered on the platform, it is because of its staging that challenges. Because in many videos, users are facing a younger version of themselves. Creating touching moments.

A filter full of emotions for some

In some, the emotion is so strong that tears flow instantly. This is particularly the case of a mother who explains that she finds with this filter the features of her daughter, who died at the age of 15.

Always full of emotions, others see it as an opportunity to remember the trials they have gone through in their lives. “I wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay,” wrote a user of the rejuvenated version of her.

The TikTok filter requires, the technology is not necessarily highly developed. Above all, rejuvenating a current face is unlikely to match exactly the face a person displayed 30 or 40 years earlier.

The technical clumsiness of the filter is even more striking in men. Baldness is particularly problematic. The people involved see that his rejuvenated version shows a shadow zone on top of the skull, roughly mimicking hair. Without preventing the emotional impact.

But criticized by others.

Another touching situation, the filter allowed a mother and her daughter to immortalize their bond in an original way. With Teenage Look they ended up with similar faces, as if they were just classmates.

However, the filter has not stopped being criticized by some users. Influencer Danae Mercer Ricci sees it as a drift risk, reports the US version of the women’s site Cosmopolitan.

Despite the limits of the filter, the comments on his Instagram post mention in particular the risk of abuse in terms of pedocrime. According to them, adults could impersonate younger people to come into contact with minors.