The popular video app TikTok seems to be promoting content to align with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) goals, a Thursday study found.
Hashtag data showed that content sensitive to the CCP is far less popular on TikTok than on its rival, Instagram, according to the study by Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University. A comparison between Instagram and TikTok showed that the number of posts about non-sensitive hashtags in the realm of politics and pop-culture was fairly similar based on how many users each platform has, but the number of posts on hashtags for topics sensitive to the CCP was substantially higher on Instagram than on TikTok. (RELATED: ‘Shame On You’: Jewish Influencers Rip CCP-Linked TikTok For Antisemitic Content: REPORT)
“We assess a strong possibility that content on TikTok is either amplified or suppressed based on its alignment with the interests of the Chinese Government,” the report asserts.
TikTok’s Global Platform Anomalies Align with the Chinese Communist Party’s Geostrategic Objectives
In collaboration + @RutgersU, our report takes a data-driven approach: Does TikTok promote or demote content on the basis of CCP interests?
Short answer: It certainly seems so🧵 pic.twitter.com/5OJdODIqfl
— Network Contagion Research Institute (@ncri_io) December 21, 2023
Instagram had more posts with hashtags about the Hong Kong protests, Tiananmen Square, Taiwan and the Uyghurs compared to TikTok, according to the study. For hashtags like #Uyghur, the ratio was more than 8 to 1, and for #AmazingTaiwan, it was over 1,000 to 1.
TikTok’s parent company is Beijing-based ByteDance, which has an internal Chinese Communist Party committee and was founded by an individual who affirmed ByteDance is a “mouthpiece” for the CCP, according to a 2020 Justice Department legal filing.
“Though more research is needed, NCRI assesses, given this data, a strong possibility that TikTok systematically promotes or demotes content on the basis of whether it is aligned with or opposed to the interests of the Chinese Government,” the report reads.
Hashtags about popular artists, video games and other pop-culture topics including #Drake, #Eminem and #GTA had ratios ranging from 0.9 to 1 to 3.8 to 1, according to the study. Similarly, hashtags about political topics that were not sensitive to the CCP including #Trump, #BLM and #Biden had ranges of 0.6 to 1 to 19.4 to 1.
“Our report takes a data-driven approach: Does TikTok promote or demote content on the basis of CCP interests? Short answer: It certainly seems so,” Network Contagion Research Institute posted on Thursday.
Weeks after Hamas’ October terrorist attack on Israel, posts on TikTok in support of Palestine reportedly received significantly more engagement compared to those advocating for Israel, which experts previously attributed to the algorithm the app employs. From Oct. 23-30, posts featuring #StandWithIsrael received 64 million views while posts featuring #StandWithPalestine received 285 million views, according to data reviewed by Axios.
“The report uses a flawed methodology to reach a predetermined, false conclusion,” TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek told The New York Times. “Anyone familiar with how the platform works can see for themselves the content they refer to is widely available and claims of suppression are baseless.”
Over 2,800 Internal Revenue Service devices still had access to TikTok despite a government ban, the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration disclosed in a report published on Monday.
TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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