TikTok algorithmically promotes content that is favorable to the Chinese government in an effort to shift the views of users, according to a report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI).
The study, in association with Rutgers University, builds off a December 2023 finding that the platform likely promotes pro-China content, amidst bipartisan criticism of the social media site.
TikTok is now embroiled in a legal battle over its future after Congress passed a bill mandating its Chinese parent company ByteDance sell the company to an American firm, citing national security concerns about U.S. user data and influence on young users.
Through an analysis of TikTok’s algorithm, the NCRI study found “compelling and strong circumstantial evidence” that TikTok content is manipulated by the Chinese government.
Authors admitted that the findings are “not definitive proof of state orchestration,” but it noted that FBI Director Christopher Wray is among top U.S. intel officials to admit any such manipulation would be “difficult to detect.”
The study found TikTok’s algorithm promotes pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) content, including travel content about China, and suppresses videos critical of the government like those referencing the treatment of Uyghur people.
Much of the pro-CCP content is linked to state government-supported accounts, the study also found, including state-backed influencers or official media.
Those methods have impacted general user sentiment towards China, according to the study, claiming “significant shifts” in user opinion, suggesting “successful indoctrination.”
Specifically, the study found the views-to-likes ratio on anti-CCP content is 87 percent lower than pro-CCP content, despite that the anti-CCP content received significantly more likes on the platform. That suggests pro-CCP content was promoted more via the algorithm despite its lower popularity with users.
In a direct survey of about 1,200 Americans, the researchers also found that frequent TikTok users are about 50 percent more likely to have a positive opinion of the Chinese government when compared to those who don’t use the app.
Authors used the findings to urge the federal government for additional regulation of the social media giant.
“NCRI assesses that the CCP 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,” they wrote.
“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,” they continued.
Congress has used TikTok as an example for potential future regulation of social media writ-large, with the mandated sale an attempt to ensure that the company remains under the close influence of U.S. laws.
TikTok has fought against the ban bill, with its parent company announcing it will not sell the social media site to a U.S. firm.
“Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” ByteDance said in April. “ByteDance doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.”
The site also faces claims from the Justice Department that it violated federal privacy laws regarding users that are minors. The DOJ alleged in a suit earlier this month that TikTok allowed children younger than 13 years to create accounts, collected data on those children and failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete the accounts and information.
The Senate passed a pair of child online safety bills late last month which would bolster federal protections for minors’ data. They have been opposed by major tech companies.
