Sometimes it takes a village: weeks of TikTok conspiracies were validated on August 20 when it was "confirmed" that Kylie Jenner was pregnant with Travis Scott's second child. Page Six's "sources" have doubled down on the rumblings — they said the Kardashian clan is "thrilled" — effectively co-signing all the work of TikTok sleuths.
A clue initially came when Caitlyn Jenner, still on the campaign trail for California's governor seat, chatted with reporters about her extended family.
"I just found out the other day that [we] have another one in the oven," Jenner said. "Yes, I found that out the other day. So that's 19 [grandchildren]."
Before even Jenner learned of her newest grandchild, though, TikToker @carolinecaresalot had the scoop on Stormi's younger sibling.
In a viral TikTok, @carolinecaresalot broke down her suspicion that Kylie was secretly pregnant. For nearly three minutes, @carolinecaresalot explored everything from Kylie's acrylic nails to the strange timeline of Travis Scott news to odd angles used in one of Jenner's Instagram stories, drawing from substantive evidence to justify her hypothesis.
TikTok is the perfect medium to foment these hyper-specific pop culture breakdowns. There's a reason that Highsnobiety's on the platform, after all: bite-sized, easy-to-edit videos that normally clock in under 60 seconds? Talk about trimming the fat.
Easy visual aids — screencaps from Jenner and Kim Kardashian's Instagram — bolstered @carolinecaresalot and other TikToker's exploration of the Jenner rumors without bogging down the infodump, streamlining the process on both ends. This is how investigative factfinding looks in 2021.
Sure, Page Six came through with the direct Kardashian-Jenner connect to verify matters but TikTok has more than proved its worth. The social media app is nimbler than traditional media, far more user-friendly than YouTube, and its "For You" page handles virality far better than, say, Instagram or Facebook.
Saying that TikTok is the new news isn't groundbreaking, but instances like this only cement its credibility because — only a couple weeks later — Kylie Jenner confirmed the pregnancy in an Instagram video.
