In the real world, a cult is something you should stay away from. They have a nasty habit of stealing your money and hanging you out to dry. Thankfully, the cults that populate the online world of TikTok are far less harmful and tend to ask participants to do something relatively simple in order to participate. In the past, everything from Horchata to Vegeta has gotten its own cult on the platform.

What is the Menace Cult on TikTok?

The latest cult to take over TikTok is the Menace Cult, which has been popping up in videos across the site encouraging users to join. The posts are typically accompanied by a devil emoji dressed in all black. Depending on what post you see, the emoji's exact look may differ. Some resemble anime characters, while others have something like a black hat on.

Although the cult may sound dangerous, it's really just a group of users who are following one another on the platform. It's a mechanism that allows users on TikTok to boost their follower counts and find other, like-minded users. To join the cult yourself, all you need to do is change your profile picture on TikTok to a devil emoji. There are plenty of different versions of the emoji floating around online, so you can choose the one that suits you best.

Many Menace Cult posts use the same song.

Although the devil emoji is the chief uniting force behind the Menace Cult, many posts from members of the cult encouraging others to join also use the song "Ryte Night" by NBA Youngboy. Other users have taken another song from the rapper, "FREEDDAWG", and used that in their posts.

How did the Menace Cult start?

Plenty of trends on TikTok have a clear point of origin, but there are others that seem to just emerge out of nowhere. Although millions of people have used the Menace Cult hashtag on TikTok, it's unclear where the trend actually started. Given how rapidly the trend took over TikTok, though, it's fair to say that plenty of users were confused about what the trend was and where it had come from.

Like many of the cults have come to dominate TikTok, though, part of the fun is that some TikTok users are mystified by it. Of course, there's not a lot of deeper meaing behind the trend. The Menace Cult is just a group of users who decided to change up their profile pictures, in part to confuse other people on TikTok.

The cult also gives users a unique way to express themselves on TikTok by using the devil emoji that is dressed in the way they choose. Some may show off their love for anime, while others will simply pick an emoji that they think looks cool. Like many trends on TikTok, the Menace Cult probably won't last too long. Even so, users who participated in it hopefully had fun, and that's all that really matters.