The short video platform TikTok, while being an audiovisual medium, is highly language-oriented, as most videos contain spoken, sung or written language in the form of soundtracks, text inserts, and original sounds. In addition, TikTok is characterized by a high degree of communicative reflexivity, which makes metapragmatic commentary a recurrent motif in the videos and comment sections. This article explores different metalinguistic practices and formats on TikTok. An ethnographic approach was used to collect and categorise videos that show how users perceive and reflect on their own and others’ language use in digital settings and beyond. The findings show that standard language ideologies play an important role in the evaluation of linguistic items, with deviations from the standard often being marginalized and sanctioned. However, parodic videos demonstrate that metalinguistic practices themselves are also staged performatively, leading to subversion and criticism. The study concludes that users of the platform are sensitive to the social functions and implications of metalinguistic practices and that TikTok offers an insightful space for understanding metadiscursive knowledge about language.