I mean, they all use underhanded tactics and psychological tricks to keep you hooked and scrolling, TikTok is far from being a sole evil here.
Back in 2015 or so I could watch Twitter addicts' personalities and worldviews change in increasingly bizarre ways. It was weird.
TikTok is the same, but distilled: faster, more emotionally charged, and optimized more aggressively. They are not unique, they're just winning right now.
And the idea that Meta has never been considered a villain is just laughable.
"Considered a villain" -- this means nothing unless action is taken. Meta has just gotten, in two whole decades, a few mock interviews in Congress and not more than that, left untouched primarily due to Section 230 and the convenience that a mass social network of 2B+ users worldwide happens to be US-based (not fiscally, of course.) And that is after the various leaks showing how it psychologically manipulates teens, lends itself to electioneering and genocide, etc. TikTok, on the other hand, has made it all the way to Congressional ban level in just a few years.