No one knows enough about Xinjiang, China.

  An autonomous region in China, Xinjiang operates under the Chinese Communist Party. In recent years, information about government crackdowns and worker abuse has escaped via social media. 

  This American Life’s recent episode called “Black Box” tells the story of a man named Abdurahman Tohti. Tohti moved to Turkey from China seven years ago to be safe from a regime that discriminates against his ethnic group – the Uyghurs. Tohti was arrested in Turkey for having an expired residency permit and, when he returned home from the detention center, his son was gone; Tohti’s wife, Peride, had sent him to China with her parents. In an effort to bring their son home, Peride flew to China with their daughter.

  Though Tohti and Peride had agreed to stay in contact through WeChat upon her arrival in China, Peride never answered any of her husband’s texts or phone calls. Tohti was also unable to contact her parents.

  Two months later, a distant relative informed Tohti that Peride had been arrested once she arrived in China. The reason behind her arrest wasn’t entirely clear, but based on the fact that many Uyghurs in China who had attempted contact with family members or friends in Turkey had also been arrested in the past, it is fair to assume Peride was jailed for this reason, too.

  In the midst of his helplessness and despair, Tohti was introduced to TikTok through a friend. He became obsessed with watching videos from Xinjiang, as well as desperate to find someone in these short clips that he recognized from his hometown. 

  In January 2019, Tohti finally found what he was looking for. While scrolling through TikTok in the early hours of the morning, he came across a video of a young boy speaking Mandarin being filmed by his teacher. The boy in the video was called Abduleziz and he said he was four years old— Tohti’s son was also named Abduleziz and would have been four years old. Tohti believes firmly that the boy in the video, who bears the same chubby cheeks and wide eyes he remembers of his son, is in fact his missing child. 

  Tohti’s story is tragic, and it’s just one of many. Only “fragments” of information make it out of Xinjiang, and even fewer people. 

  Despite this, Tohti says he will not rest until his family is back in Turkey with him. He is using the power of TikTok to try to navigate through Xinjiang and find more information about where his wife, son, and daughter are.

  TikTok gets more bad press than good nowadays, but it is important to highlight stories like Tohti’s where the so-called trivial app creates an incomparable means of communication.