TikTok’s algorithm favored Republican content in 2024 US elections, study finds
A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature finds that TikTok’s algorithm systematically prioritized pro-Republican content in three states leading up to the 2024 US elections.Researchers created hundreds of dummy accounts and conditioned them to mimic real users’ behavior by watching a set of videos either aligned with the US Democratic or Republican parties.Then, they tracked the videos TikTok recommended on these accounts’ For You pages, TikTok’s main feed.“We found a consistent imbalance,” they wrote in Nature.About 42% of US social media users say that these platforms are important for getting involved with political and social issues, according to Pew Research, but it’s not often clear how recommendation algorithms shape what appears in feeds.
Professors Talal Rahwan and Yasir Zaki at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus set out to study how partisan politics shows up on TikTok – a platform that has become a key source of political information, especially for some young adults.Their study notes that this demographic – ages 18 to 29 – shifted by 10 percentage points towards Donald Trump between the 2020 and 2024 elections.A statement from TikTok read: “This artificial experiment with fake accounts does not reflect how people actually use TikTok.In reality, people discover and watch a wide variety of content on our platform which they continuously shape and can control through more than a dozen tools the authors seem unaware of.”Bots that were trained on pro-Republican content viewed about 11.
5% more content that agreed with their views compared to their pro-Democrat counterparts.That imbalance held for exposure to opposing views, too.Bots trained on pro-Democratic content were about 7.5% more likely to be viewing pro-Republican content on their For You page, the study found.The researchers used 323 dummy accounts in the study, setting their locations to New York state, Texas and Georgia.
For 27 weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, the researchers sifted through more than 280,000 recommended videos using a combination of human and AI review.“Our finding isn’t just about reinforcement; Democratic accounts were shown significantly more anti-Democratic content than Republican accounts were shown anti-Republican content,” said Rahwan, one of the study’s authors.“The algorithm wasn’t just giving people what they want; it was giving one side more of what the other side says about them.”The types of issues that surfaced in videos differed, too – as pro-Democrat accounts in the study were fed disproportionately more cross-partisan content on immigration and crime, and pro-Republican accounts saw more cross-partisan content on abortion.“This suggests the algorithm may amplify content designed to attack the opposing side on its weakest ground, which is a more targeted and arguably more concerning pattern than a uniform ideological drift,” added Hazem Ibrahim, a PhD student at NYU Abu Dhabi who worked on the study.
The bots in the study were located through “mock” GPS and virtual private network (VPN) routing in strongly Democratic New York, strongly Republican Texas and Georgia, a battleground state.The researchers caution that their findings shouldn’t be generalized beyond these states.The study authors acknowledge that many users self-select and curate the content they see on various social media platforms.However, they say that TikTok’s For You page gives users less control than the main interfaces of other social media platforms, being “almost entirely driven by the platform’s algorithm”, the paper notes.A TikTok spokesperson disputed the claim that users have few customization options.
On TikTok, “users don’t need to follow anyone; the system decides based on behavioral signals like watch time,That makes it a uniquely clean setting for studying algorithmic influence, because user self-selection is minimized,” Ibrahim says,“Skews here are harder to attribute to users’ choices,”The authors note that while their study unpacked the kind of political content users are exposed to, it doesn’t analyze the influence of these videos on political beliefs and behavior, or the reason why this imbalance exists,They also note that the bots only captured the early states of a user’s experience on the platform, and analyzed English-language video transcripts, which wouldn’t capture political cues conveyed through visuals or other languages.
A TikTok spokesperson said these limitations demonstrate that the study was not representative of real users’ consumption.Still, they stress that studying the extent to which political content can be skewed on TikTok feeds are relevant to ongoing debates about platform transparency and algorithmic accountability.The Nature article pointed out: “Under the EU Digital Services Act, large platforms are required to assess and mitigate systemic risks to electoral processes, whereas in the USA, First Amendment protections grant platforms far greater editorial discretion.”Zaki added: “In an environment where margins are thin, systematic differences in the kind of political information recommended to tens of millions of young voters are worth taking seriously.”
Did breakthrough in US fentanyl crisis start in China?
As Donald Trump travels to Beijing this week, fentanyl – and China’s role in its supply chain – remains an enduring point of acrimony in bilateral relations.At a UN meeting in March, the US again accused China of failing to stop its chemical industry selling the precursors required to make the potent synthetic opioid, while China suggested the US was shifting the blame for its domestic drug problem.Yet there are growing signs that the US fentanyl crisis has turned a corner – and some experts believe that interventions made in China have played a key role.“There was a supply shock: the purity of fentanyl fell,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor at Stanford University. “The question is why was there a supply shock
Older people risk mental decline if they do long hours of caring, UK study shows
The stresses and strains of caring for someone for 50 hours or more a week leads to “accelerated cognitive decline” in middle-aged and older people, research shows.However, providing care for only five to nine hours a week has the opposite effect, boosting brain health so much that the benefits last until older age.Carers UK called the findings “extremely worrying” and said they highlight how long hours spent providing care raises the risk of social isolation and burnout.Dr Baowen Xue, an academic at University College London and the lead author of the paper, said: “Our study shows that the caring responsibilities many people take on in later life can be a double-edged sword.“On the one hand, lighter caring responsibilities can be good for you by providing mental stimulation from interacting with loved ones or others you’re helping and a sense of purpose and usefulness
Steve Lismore obituary
My partner, Steve Lismore, who has died aged 71 in a climbing accident in Italy, was a civil servant and local politician with twin passions for giving children a good start in life and establishing equality of access to employment. Steve’s energy and commitment to action has had a lasting impact across north Derbyshire.Born in Toronto, Canada, to Violet (nee Greaves), a secretary, and Basil Lismore, a toolmaker, Steve loved reading and excelled at Bayview Heights school, Ontario, skipping a grade and winning awards at science fairs.His approach to life was formed in his teens. He combined adventure, practicality and ingenuity as he coaxed cheap motorbikes to ever improved performance
Renters’ Rights Act could worsen court delays without proper funding | Letters
The new Renters’ Rights Act is a step forward in ensuring that both tenants and landlords can access justice, but without proper investment it risks creating new court delays and injustices for both parties (The Guardian view on the Renters’ Rights Act: finally, protections fit for the modern housing market, 5 May).The end of “no fault” evictions in England is expected to lead to an increase in the number of contested repossession cases. If courts do not have the funding to handle the increase, delays will grow and leave many people in limbo, as we have recently seen with the closure of the Hillingdon Law Centre.This investment must include further funding for housing legal aid. While last year the UK government pledged to increase the fees paid to housing legal aid firms, those changes are yet to be fully implemented
‘Everyone was in tears’: the tenants given eviction notices just before ban in England
It was 2pm on 30 April when Carl Kansinde Middleton received a “no fault” eviction from his landlord in Brighton – just 10 hours before section 21 notices were officially banned under the Renters’ Right Act.“As we were getting closer, I really thought I was safe,” he said. “It just never occurred to me that it would just come right on the last day – I truly felt blindsided.“I lost my job in November and it’s been a struggle for me financially as I have no support system. I was just about treading water but this has swept me under
Ash scattering is a risky business | Brief letters
I had a similar experience to Zoe Williams (The day had come to scatter my mum’s ashes. What could possibly go wrong?, 5 May) when I scattered my dad’s ashes near the first tee at his golf club. After reaching into the urn and grabbing a large handful of his ashes, I threw them into the air only to have them all blown back at me by a sudden gust of wind. Friends always said I looked very much like him and I felt a tremendous sense of pride as parts of him went into every orifice.Bob DawsonGreenmount, Greater Manchester Glad to read about the campaign to save the mother of Bramley apples tree (Report, 5 May)
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang joins other US bosses on Trump trip to China
How to use spent tea leaves to smoke Chinese-style duck – recipe
Weight gain as adult increases cancer risk by up to five times, research shows
Sarah Taylor named England men’s fielding coach while Gay, Rew and Baker are called up
Wes Streeting prepares to launch leadership challenge against Keir Starmer
Coconut dal, cheesy pickle toasties, carrot halva cakes: Ravinder Bhogal’s tastes of home – recipes