Researchers found that TikTok’s design makes it a breeding ground for misinformation. They write that the videos can be easily manipulated and republished on the platform and shown alongside stolen or original content. Pseudonyms are common; parody and comedy videos are prone to misinterpretation of the truth; popularity affects the visibility of comments; and publication time data and other details are not clearly displayed on the mobile app.
(However, the Shorenstein Center researchers note that TikTok is less affected by so-called brigading, in which groups coordinate to make a post go viral, compared with platforms like Twitter or Facebook.)
In the first quarter of 2022, more than 60% of videos with harmful misinformation were viewed by users before being removed, TikTok said. Last year, a group behavioral scientist who has worked with TikTok said that the attempt to attach warnings to posts with unproven content reduced shares by 24% but only 5% of views.
The researchers say that disinformation will continue to thrive on TikTok as long as the platform refuses to disclose data about the origins of videos or share details about its algorithms. Last month, TikTok said it would offer some access to a version of its application programming interface, or API, this year, but it did not say whether it would do so before midterms. or not.
Filippo Menczer, a professor of informatics and computer science and director of the Social Networking Observatory at Indiana University, said he proposed a research collaboration with TikTok and was told: Absolutely not”.
“With Facebook and Twitter at least, there is some level of transparency, but, in the case of TikTok, we have no clue,” he said. “Without resources, no data access, we don’t know who got suspended, what content was taken down, what they acted on reports or criteria. It is completely unclear, and we cannot independently evaluate anything.”
