How an 18-Year-Old TikToker’s Scientology “Run” Inspired a Trend — and Why He Says It’s Gone Too Far

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On March 31, an 18-year-old content creator who goes by the TikTok handle Swhileyy — pronounced “Swiley” — jogged through the lobby of a Church of Scientology building in Hollywood, laughing as a staffer told him to leave.

He made it down a hallway, down a flight of stairs, ducked under a woman’s arm and pushed through an exit. The whole bit lasted under a minute.

The clip exploded. Swhileyy says the video has pulled roughly 90 million views to his own accounts over the past month; folded in with reactions and reposts, he estimates the total is “in the hundreds of millions.”

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A little under a month later, the Scientology “run,” known more generally among the creator community as “deep runs,” has hardened into a format — and, he says, into something he no longer recognizes. The

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