A recent study claims that TikTok, a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance, is using its algorithms to suppress content exposing China’s human rights violations to shape the views of its targeted users.
Researchers from America’s Rutgers University and the school’s Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that the China-owned video-sharing app’s algorithms “actively suppress content critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while simultaneously boosting pro-China propaganda and promoting distracting, irrelevant content.”
“Through the use of travel influencers, frontier lifestyle accounts, and other CCP-linked content creators, the platform systematically shouts down sensitive discussions about issues like ethnic genocide and human rights abuses,” the study states.
Earlier, in December last year, the NCRI published an initial report that found a strong possibility of content on TikTok being either amplified or suppressed based on its alignment with the interests of the Chinese regime.
The report concluded with a warning: “should future research find that TikTok users exhibit attitudes and assessments of world events aligned with these information distortions, democracies will need to consider appropriate counter measures to protect information integrity and mitigate potential real-world impacts.”
These findings underscored the urgency of investigating the specific mechanisms and broader implications of potential algorithmic manipulations, as per NCRI.
NCRI said its initial study shed light on the potential for content manipulation on TikTok, it did not explore whether specific moderation algorithms or practices are used to suppress topics sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Moreover, the initial report did not compare the nature and impact of pro-CCP and anti-CCP content across other major social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
The latest NCRI report addresses these gaps by providing a more comprehensive analysis of TikTok’s moderation practices, examining the nature and prevalence of CCP-sensitive content, and evaluating how different platforms handle such content, the researchers stated.
Furthermore, the study explores the association between social media platform usage and pro-CCP attitudes among users.
By combining user journey data, survey research, and cross-platform comparisons, the NCRI has uncovered the extent to which TikTok and other platforms may influence user perceptions and behaviors in favour of the CCP, according to researchers.
The publication of this research precedes the delivery of oral arguments for TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Ltd. vs Merrick B. Garland, a federal court case that has subjected the TikTok algorithm to intensive new scrutiny, said NCRI.
TikTok, in recent years, has been facing scrutiny and accusations of being a threat to national security, since it exploits the minds of American teens.
TikTok’s China-based parent company, Bytedance, could be forced by the CCP to hand over data on US users, as per media reports.
The United States National Security Agency has previously called the app the CCP’s “Trojan horse” that threatens America’s long-term security because of the CCP’s anti-US views, while some lawmakers have likened the app to a form of “digital fentanyl” that makes its users into addicts, reports The Epoch Times.
Earlier in April, US President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan measure into law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned from US mobile app stores and web-hosting services.
TikTok and its parent firm ByteDance have filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the law, according to reports.
The NCRI report also found that TikTok had carried out “successful indoctrination” of its users, particularly heavy users, given changes in their attitudes toward China, based on the results of a psychological survey.
The research has found that TikTok’s algorithms consistently amplify pro-CCP content and suppress anti-CCP narratives, and much of the pro-CCP content in the app originates from state-linked entities, including media outlets and influencers, while the survey data shows significant shifts in user attitudes towards China, especially among heavy TikTok users, indicating successful indoctrination.
Circumstantial evidence found in the study collectively indicates a systematic manipulation of information, suggesting that propaganda produced by state actors and orchestrated through assets owned or influenced by them shapes user perceptions at a massive scale, according to NCRI.
The researchers wrote, “These users, through targeting or information environments engineered to sublimate free speech, appear to absorb these biased narratives unwittingly, leading to a distorted understanding of critical global issues.”
The researchers found that TikTok’s moderation algorithms significantly augment anti-China content suppression, while the views-to-likes ratio for anti-China content on TikTok was 87 percent lower than pro-China content even though the content was liked nearly twice as much.
The study noted that heavy users of TikTok (those with more than three hours of daily screen-time) demonstrated a roughly 50 percent rise in pro-China attitudes compared to non-users.
This suggests that TikTok’s content may contribute to psychological manipulation of users, aligning with the CCP’s strategic objective of shaping favorable perceptions among young audiences, the study read.
NCRI also assesses that the Chinese Communist regime is deploying algorithmic manipulation in combination with prolific information operations to impact user beliefs and behaviors on a massive scale and that these efforts prove highly successful on TikTok in particular.
“These findings underscore the urgent need for transparent regulation of social media algorithms, or even the creation of a public trust funded by the platforms themselves to safeguard democratic values and free will,” the report read.
However, responding to the NCRI findings, a TikTok spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that the study was a “non-peer-reviewed, flawed experiment … clearly engineered to reach a false, predetermined conclusion.”
“Previous research by NCRI has been debunked by outside analysts, and this latest paper is equally flawed,” the spokesperson added.
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