A study published in the journal Nature has found that TikTok's algorithm systematically prioritised pro-Republican content in three US states during the 2024 presidential election campaign. Researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi created hundreds of dummy accounts conditioned to mimic real users, then tracked the videos recommended on their For You pages.
The study, which analysed over 280,000 recommended videos across 27 weeks, found that bots trained on pro-Republican content viewed about 11.5% more content aligned with their views compared to pro-Democrat bots. Additionally, pro-Democrat bots were about 7.5% more likely to see pro-Republican content on their feeds. The researchers noted that Democratic accounts were shown significantly more anti-Democratic content than Republican accounts were shown anti-Republican content.
Differences in the types of issues surfaced were also observed. Pro-Democrat accounts were fed disproportionately more cross-partisan content on immigration and crime, while pro-Republican accounts saw more cross-partisan content on abortion. The study authors suggest the algorithm may amplify content designed to attack the opposing side on its weakest ground.
TikTok disputed the findings, stating that the artificial experiment with fake accounts does not reflect how people actually use the platform. The company emphasised that users have control over their experience through more than a dozen tools. The researchers acknowledged that their findings should not be generalised beyond New York, Texas, and Georgia, and that the study does not analyse the influence of such content on political beliefs or behaviour.
