Is TikTok's Algorithm Really as Dangerous as We Think? (2024)

Published: June 26, 2024

Is TikTok’s Algorithm Really as Dangerous as We Think?

By Movieguide® Staff

With a potential U.S. ban looming, social media platform TikTok has once again been thrust into the spotlight, with many trying to understand its algorithm.

“At the highest level, we want to understand how people are actually using TikTok, and how the TikTok algorithm works,” said Franziska Roesner, a University of Washington professor and one of the researchers studying TikTok’s algorithm.

TikTok’s rapid-fire, short-form vertical content has set the standard for many other powerful companies, influencing other platforms such as Instagram, which now features “Reels,” and YouTube, which now has “Shorts.”

Some filmmakers are even exploring making their movies in the vertical aspect ratio for phones.

TikTok’s influence is broad, but how is its algorithm so successful? And what is the secret behind it?

TikTok nowranksas the second most popular social media app used by children, and it’s more relevant than ever to understand the technology behind the media our kids consume.

According to a new study by Karan Vombatkere and colleagues at Boston University, “between 30% and 50% of the first 1,000 videos TikTok users encounter are exploiting their past interests.”

The study was conducted by analyzing data donated by users who downloaded their app usage under the GDPR (EU’s General Data Protection Regulation), the Fast Company explained.

“Our paper is a first step into getting some insight into how this personalization works. And then at the second step, we also try to look specifically into a few factors and see how much they influence personalization,” Vombatkeresaid.

Speaking of the research study, Manoel Horta Ribeiro, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, said, “They explore a neat way to get data, which is to pay money for [users] to give the data to you. This is made possible due to GDPR, as companies had to implement ‘data takeout’ procedures that allow users to retroactively get their data—and sell it or donate it to researchers.”

Regarding TikTok’s effect on children and teenagers, many are labeling the platform as “digital crack cocaine.”

Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate produced a report in December 2022 that suggested TikTok’s algorithm was serving harmful content to some viewers within the first minutes of their use of the platform.

“There is self-harm content, there is nonsensical content about cures for mental health [conditions],” he said. “The algorithm recognises vulnerability and, instead of seeing it as something it should be careful around, it sees it as a potential point of addiction – of helping to maximize time on the platform for that child by serving them up content that might trigger some of the pre-existing concerns.”

However, despite these concerns, Julian McAuley— a professor of computer science at the University of California San Diego — viewed internal documentation on the TikTok algorithm and told the New York Times, “There seems to be some perception that they’ve cracked some magic code for recommendation, but most of what I’ve seen seems pretty normal.”

According to McAuley, TikTok has “fantastic volumes of data, highly engaged users, and a setting where users are amenable to consuming algorithmically recommended content. Not some algorithmic magic.”

The opinion on TikTok’s algorithm is divided. Perhaps the platform does not have a “magic bullet” algorithm after all, and its technology merely reproduces the past patterns of the users. Or perhaps the lack of transparency around their algorithm is a means to hide something darker.

Movieguide® previously reported on how TikTok’s algorithm can influence young users:

Beth Hartman, a high school freshman in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, joined the app to watch dance videos and participate in the viral dance challenges herself. She, too, was soon bombarded with videos from users where they detailed what they ate each day – and she stopped to watch them.

“The videos were only a hundred calories a day, and then are saying, like, ‘Oh, this is way too much. Now I got to go exercise for an hour and a half to get rid of it,’” Hartman said…

So, how does this happen? Why is TikTok showing users this type of content?

It all comes down to the TikTok algorithm.

In order to keep showing users content that will make them want to return to the app, sites like TikTok, Netflix, and Amazon use an algorithm that compares their habits to similar users.

For example, when you finish watching a movie on Netflix, a menu pops up at the end with a list of movies that the streaming service recommends. These picks are based on the idea that people who watchedthismovie also watchedthatone, soyoumight like it, too.