"Do Not Look up the Sweetie Fox Filter" — OK, but What Is It? Here's an Explainer

For a platform that bans people over PG comments or mild opinions, it’s mind-boggling when something R-rated manages to slip up on TikTok and stick around for more than a few seconds. The white shampoo trend was one example, and the duck filter had its moment, too. But now, there’s another, and it’s apparently so bad that people can’t even share the exact details of it. We’re talking about the Sweetie Fox filter.

If you search it up, you’ll find a plethora of videos simply warning, “Don’t search Sweetie Fox filter,” or just showing people’s shocked reactions. And, of course, with everyone saying not to look it up, it only causes the curiosity to grow stronger. But don’t worry, we’ll save you from falling down this rabbit hole as we’ve got the deets on what the Sweetie Fox filter really is.

The Sweetie Fox TikTok filter is an in-app effect that pops up a small window in the corner of your screen, allegedly showing sexually explicit content involving a man and a woman. Like the full up-close and personal kind. In the comments of reaction videos, people are calling it “corn,” which is a code word for porn since TikTok is likely to flag that word (go figure!) and remove the comment.

The explicit clips are said to be tied to content creator Sweetie Fox, who’s known for her OnlyFans and cosplay outfits and performances. Many also describe her as a porn star, so you can only imagine the type of content people claim was playing when the filter appeared on TikTok.

Now that you know what the Sweetie Fox filter is, don’t bother looking for it in the effects section of your TikTok app because it’s already been banned (we checked). Several commenters also mentioned in the comments of various videos that they couldn’t find it, further suggesting TikTok has scrubbed it from the effects lineup (thank goodness!).

But the fact that the Sweetie Fox filter survived on the app for more than 24 hours is pretty wild. It wouldn’t have been hard for a young child or teen with access to TikTok to come across it, since it was positioned within the effects section, something many users frequently use to enhance or modify their photos.

And based on the reactions in the comments, it would appear that several young users did see it and were left utterly shocked. One commenter under @niylaboratory’s video wrote, “I saw that while I was on my bus.” Another added, “Bro, I was making a vid and I scrolled on it by accident, not knowing what it was, and started crying.”

While we don’t know how this filter came about or if Sweetie Fox had any involvement, the real concern is: Why isn’t TikTok flagging these things sooner?

There have been cases of TikTok content being taken down almost immediately for violations that barely matter, yet something like this, which clearly has no place on the app, managed to survive long enough for plenty of people to see it and for it to go viral. So what’s the deal? Is TikTok intentionally letting these things run their course, or is the platform really missing them?