The terrifying world of the 'TikTok Farlands'

There's a hidden corner of TikTok the algorithm won't show you, full of weird, creepy and downright disturbing videos. It could all be a myth – or it may be a preview of the internet's future.

TikTok has a reputation for serving up an endless stream of videos that are, in general, fairly positive. Some detractors even call it sanitised. But beneath the surface are billions of videos TikTok normally won't show you. Some are boring. Some are bizarre. Some of are truly unsettling.

Rumour has it if you stay up too late, scrolling for hours until you exhaust TikTok's normal recommendations, you might get a momentary glimpse. But users of the platform say they've found a way to go deeper.

With the right tricks, you can reach this uncanny digital space, that's weirder, darker and more grotesque than the happy path the algorithm typically steers you along. It's known as the "TikTok Farlands".

The best way to reach it, apparently, is to plug in a string of random numbers and letters that another user has posted in the comments of a video.

"You can't get there through algorithmic recommendation alone – you need a human to invite you in," says Aidan Walker, an internet culture reporter and meme researcher, in a post on the subject.

To dive deeper into the edges of TikTok's Farlands, listen to this episode of The Interface.

Conversations about TikTok's Farlands erupted over the last few months, blending conspiracy theories and urban legends with earnest discussion about the power of social media companies.

Users have figured out ways to hijack the TikTok algorithm to make it surface videos they believe the app doesn't want you to see. It is a social movement as well as a meme trend. People are pushing up against the walls of the machine.

And in a world of AI slop and mindless scrolling, it's left me more optimistic about the future of the internet than I've felt in a long time.

The name "Farlands" comes from a famous, ancient glitch in the game Minecraft. In early versions of the game, if you walked far enough, it caused an error that generated distorted and chaotic landscapes full of tunnels and weird structures.

"The Minecraft Farlands were the edge of the game. You would literally reach the end of the world, and you could not go further," says Jessica Maddox, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Georgia in the US, who focuses on social media.

The TikTok Farlands are the same idea. "It's the end of the internet where things get weird. You've left the mainstream and taken a wrong turn."

With the help of comments left under Walker's video post, I was able to follow some random strings of characters into the void. I plugged a code into the search bar, and what I found was nothing like my usual experience on TikTok.

Nightmarish, AI-generated figures paraded across the screen. Faces contorted in a haze of pixelated distortion. Some kind of alien creature with his veins plugged into the wires of a TV screamed in agony, as a teenager looked on with a videogame controller.

A lot of it was too disturbing for the BBC to link........

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