Chickens, TikTok Cults, and the Importance of Community

Teens aren't joining street gangs during the pandemic—they're joining TikTok cults. But it's OK...I think.

In a May 26 column for the New York Times, Taylor Lorenz reported on the rise of TikTok cults, specifically one called “Step Chickens,” started by TikTok user Melissa Ong.

Ms. Ong is 27-years-old, which is toward the top of the key TikTok demographic. Yet she has rallied hundreds of thousands of TikTok users around her Step Chickens cult.

Lorenz writes:

Ti…