TikTok algorithmically promotes content favorable to the Chinese government in order to change users’ perceptions. Reportedly According to the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI).
The study, conducted in collaboration with Rutgers University, is based on findings from a December 2023 investigation that found the platform was likely promoting pro-China content amid bipartisan criticism of the social media site.
TikTok is currently embroiled in a legal battle over its future after Congress passed a bill that would force its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a U.S. company, citing national security concerns about U.S. user data and its impact on younger users.
Through its analysis of TikTok’s algorithms, the NCRI investigation found “compelling and strong circumstantial evidence” that content on TikTok is manipulated by the Chinese government.
While the authors acknowledged that their findings were “not conclusive evidence of coordinated nation-state manipulation,” they noted that FBI Director Christopher Wray was one of the top US intelligence officials to acknowledge that such manipulation would be “difficult to detect.”
The investigation found that TikTok’s algorithms promote pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) content, including travel content about China, and suppress videos critical of the government, such as those addressing the treatment of the Uighurs.
The investigation also found that much of the pro-Chinese Communist Party content was linked to government-backed accounts, including government-backed influencers and official media outlets.
The study said these tactics had influenced general user sentiment towards China, and had seen “significant changes” in user opinions, suggesting “successful indoctrination.”
Specifically, the study found that the view-to-like ratio for anti-CCP content was 87 percent lower than that for pro-CCP content, despite the anti-CCP content receiving significantly more likes on the platform, suggesting that pro-CCP content was promoted more through the algorithm despite being less popular among users.
The researchers surveyed about 1,200 Americans in person and also found that frequent TikTok users were about 50% more likely to have a favorable opinion of the Chinese government than those who don’t use the app.
The authors used their findings to call for the federal government to further regulate major social media companies.
“NCRI assesses that the Chinese Communist Party has used a combination of algorithmic manipulation and bulk information manipulation to influence users’ beliefs and behaviors on a large scale, and that these efforts have been particularly successful on TikTok,” they wrote.
“These findings highlight the urgent need for transparent regulation of social media algorithms or the creation of a public trust funded by the platforms themselves to safeguard democratic values and free will,” the researchers continued.
Congress has held up TikTok as an example for future regulation of social media in general, and the divestment order is an attempt to ensure the company remains subject to strict U.S. law.
TikTok has opposed the proposed ban and its parent company has said it will not sell the social media site to a US company.
“International media reports that ByteDance is considering selling TikTok are false,” ByteDance said in April. “ByteDance has no plans to sell TikTok.”
The site is also being sued by the Department of Justice for violating federal privacy laws regarding underage users, which alleged in a lawsuit earlier this month that TikTok allowed children under the age of 13 to create accounts, collected their data, and then failed to comply with parental requests to delete the accounts and information.
The Senate passed two child online safety bills late last month that would strengthen federal protections for minors’ data, despite opposition from major tech companies.
