"DON'T Try the Duck Filter!" — TikTok Users Scramble After Explicit Filter Makes the Rounds

It's no secret that the internet is full of raunchy and inappropriate items. After all, Rule 34 states that if it exists, there is pornography made about it.

TikTok, while rife with moderation and rules, is not free from the influence of the darker side of the internet.

A duck filter made the rounds on TikTok in 2025 that left people's jaws on the floor, and many people warned others not to click on it unknowingly. But what exactly is the duck filter? Warning: The answer is NSFW.

If you click on "duck filter" on TikTok now, what you'll probably get is some version of Duck Hunter or possibly a little cartoon duck that dances in the middle of your screen.

It's silly, it's adorable, what could possibly be wrong with a duck filter like that? Happy cartoon dancing duck feet and flappy wings, there's nothing more wholesome. Unless, of course, you stumbled on the original TikTok "duck filter."

Unfortunately for unwary TikTok users, the innocent little dancing duck wasn't always what came up if you clicked on the filter. In early August 2025, a trending "duck filter" saw users clicking on it with interest, only to discover gay pornography pop up as a filter on their videos.

It would seem that TikTok reacted quickly to remove the filter, but not before a number of content creators cried foul, asking why they weren't allowed to so much as show cleavage when the explicit filter was allowed.

But it would appear that the filter was not allowed after all, and it has since been scrubbed from the app.

However, the filter lives on in mentions all over TikTok. Video after video warns, "don't try the duck filter!" But with the original filter gone, chaos and confusion are ruling the short form video app.

In response to one video about the filter, one user sobs, "Never searching ducky filter again!!!!" While another begs, "What is the duck filter?!?! All I'm seeing is a happy little duck. What's going on?!"

Several users mentioned that they were "traumatized" by the original filter, while some scoffed and called it "no big deal."

In one comment section, users went back and forth about how gay pornography is hardly the worst thing one could run into on the internet and people freaking out about it are being "snowflakes."

Another user corrected them, saying, "it's not the level of badness. It's the lack of consent."

Basically, if you missed the original filter, you're not likely to find it. But whether or not you found the seeming prank hilarious or horrifying depends on who you are and what your background is.

Now, as far as we're aware, duck filters are just that.

But as always on TikTok, click with caution. You never know what might be lurking behind that cute filter name or sound byte.