A new research is shedding light on TikTok and how the popular social media app might not be displaying the complete picture of China’s reality.
This includes all the human rights abuses taking place and, making it harder to search for on this platform. Whether you look for them through key phrases or keywords, the results are limited.
TikTok users based in the US revealed how ‘anti-Chinese’ terms are also less likely to show anything negative about the country. This includes propaganda against the nation’s leading political parties.
When similar searches were rolled out on Instagram and YouTube, analysts found much more content.
To better reveal their findings, the authors created 24 accounts on all the different leading platforms. This would better depict the experience of teens in the US. Hence, when they looked for certain key terms linked to controversial topics like China’s human rights abuse, TikTok showed very little material.
Most of the content was positive or neutral while that seen on Instagram and YouTube was the exact opposite. So the more users are using TikTok, the more likely they’ll get exposed to China’s positive offerings. It’s a stark contrast to that seen elsewhere.
Meanwhile, one representative from the TikTok app spoke about how it doesn’t agree with the findings produced by the NCRI. On the other hand, another survey spoke about how using the app daily for a long time left people with a positive image of China, as compared to those who didn’t use the app.
TikTok fails to agree. According to them, rolling out new accounts and looking for key terms isn’t a reflection of the actual users’ experience. He also mentioned how TikTok is not as old as others in the market. Hence, a lot of the history they point out isn’t found on the platform.
One spokesperson for the ByteDance-owned platform went as far as to claim that the study was useless and displayed false conclusions. He also mentioned that it didn’t have any peer-reviews to validate the findings.
The information is important because of the timing. Remember, Biden’s administration has banned TikTok until it separates from its Chinese roots. The app is considered a national security threat and it has until January 19 to make a decision before the complete ban ensues.
The thoughts related to TikTok spreading pro-China images to American users, especially the youth, is a smart tactic. But the Congress is well aware of this and considered it as the major factor in banning the app before it was too late.
The authors in this study do agree that the findings are not definitive proof of how employees are using manipulation to display China in a positive light. But it does build up on what the study revealed in the past. This had to do with promoting or demoting content that is in China’s best interest.
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