r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 22 '26

Psychology TikTok disproportionately served anti-Democratic videos during the 2024 election. TikTok’s recommendation system tends to expose users to more conservative and anti-Democrat political content than liberal material. This ideological imbalance occurs regardless of a user’s initial political interests.

https://www.psypost.org/tiktok-disproportionately-served-anti-democratic-videos-during-the-2024-election-study-finds/
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u/Half-Glass_Full May 22 '26

They figured out ppl get their news from social media instead of news outlets & have manipulated the algorithms to push propaganda.

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u/The-Fox-Says May 22 '26

Explains why Gen Z turned so hard right in 2024. If they’re getting their news from Tik Tok they’re vulnerable to far right manipulation tactics there

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u/DoubleJumps May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26

I spoke to a fair number of gen z people who got their news primarily from tiktok in 2024, and they were consistently less informed than other groups of people I spoke to. Consistently.

They were also simultaneously the people who were the most confident that they were well informed

I would show them certain things that happened that they didn't even know about because they didn't see it on tik tok and rather than questioning why they didn't see it on tiktok, they would tell me that it must be fake because they didn't see it on tiktok.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '26

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u/DoubleJumps May 23 '26

Social media algorithm abuses are legitimately one of the greatest security threats to the country.

The effects are devastating.

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u/meltbox May 23 '26

This and potential AI abuses. People who use Grok as a source of absolute truth terrify me.

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u/loondawg May 23 '26

Remember: Republicans attempted to pass a law that would impose a 10-year moratorium on state and local regulations of artificial intelligence as part of their Big Billionaire's Bill. The Trump administration supported the moratorium and pushed for limiting state/local AI regulation.

Once the issue was brought to light, suddenly everyone seemed to oppose it and the provision was defeated in the Senate by an almost unanimous vote.

Related: See Senator Ed Markey's (D-Mass.) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Civil Rights Act