#88: The Midterm Memo
...and shadow promoting content in Russia
Hello again.
This is Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus. Oracle has begun vetting TikTok's algorithms and content moderation models to ensure they aren't manipulated by Chinese authorities (Axios). Let’s see how that goes…
Today we talk about:
🇺🇸 Midterm Memo
🇷🇺 Shadow Promoting
👀 TikTok for Search
🇺🇸 Midterm Memo
The 2022 US midterm elections will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. TikTok which has established itself as one of the top online platforms for e.g. U.S. teens (Pew Research Center) plays a role as US parties are either trying to catch up or condemn. Recent press coverage has included: Twerking (Boston.com), trying (Politico), niche humor (USA Today), lobbying (Washington Examiner), misinfo (Poynter), or basically just using the app (The Hill). In the coming weeks i will sum up some observations.
TikTok is great for spreading political messages — and conspiracy theories, Rebecca Jennings reminds us (Vox): Democrats are trying to win TikTok with facts and nuance. Its algorithm rewards the opposite. According to Jennings “reasons TikTok is so uniquely powerful at one-to-many communication” include a) TikToks are short. You can consume dozens of TikToks, b) thanks to its algorithm, you can go extremely viral without having a single follower c) TikTok is a Platonically perfect social media app for generating parasocial relationships.
In a Wednesday blog post, TikTok’s head of US safety, Eric Han, outlined how the company plans to combat the threat of harmful misinformation (The Verge). These include a) ban on influencers on posting paid political content b) Hashtags like “#elections2022” will be added to content identified as being election related c) TikTok will begin rolling out its Election Center this week in order to provide authoritative voting information. TikTok says it will link out to the Election Center through labels.
If all of that sounds familiar and raises a brow or two you have probably read last years report (Broken Promises: TikTok and the German Election) i have been working on together with the Mozilla Foundation ahead of the german elections 2021, mentioned in this NYT-article: On TikTok, Election Misinformation Thrives Ahead of Midterms. I will check out the anti-misinfo attempts in the coming weeks. For now i leave you with this article: The TikTok influencers are coming for the midterms (The Verge).
🇷🇺 Shadow Promoting
Tracking Exposed is a European non-profit organization defending digital rights through algorithmic investigations. The team has been busy examining TikTok in the last months. Four days after the invasion of Ukraine Tracking Exposed has started a systematic observation of TikTok in Russia. They have released two reports in March (TikTok content restriction in Russia) and April (Content Restrictions on TikTok in Russia following the Ukrainian War). Now a third report has been published to keep track of the pretty eventful weeks.
Report number three Shadow-promotion: TikTok’s algorithmic recommendation of banned content in Russia includes some worthwhile observations. Before we dive in we need to know that “according to TikTok’s own policy updated June 30, new content and international content is not available to domestic users inside Russia.”
Well, here are the findings: a) International political content is back on TikTok in Russia b) Some accounts are unaffected by the content ban. We found verified Russia-based accounts that have uploaded new content at the time of publishing, despite the ban c) TikTok has even started “shadow-promoting” content to users in Russia - promoting content that’s supposed to be banned.
Wait. What?! Instead of banning content it is promoted? Tracking Exposed: “Shadow promotion” is a new term we have coined to describe this previously unobserved phenomenon of algorithmic promotion of content that is supposedly banned on a platform.
Tracking Exposed explains: Why this is happening is unclear. TikTok could be aiming to remain operational in Russia by appearing to comply with local laws on the surface, while trying to make the platform attractive for the Russian users with recently updated content by giving some top accounts the ability to post despite the ban.
We learn: There is a difference between how a platform says its content moderation or algorithms work, and what is actually happening. We should keep that in mind for the midterms too.
👀 TikTok for Search
A lot of young people are using TikTok instead of Google for search (#86). Yes, but why? Social media strategist Adrienne Sheares has “hosted a mini-focus group with Gen Zers” and learned that: TikTok shows them relevant content FASTER than Google. The Gen Z focus group participants don't want to read to find information. They are aware of misinformation and try to circumvent it. While the Wall Street Journal tries to remind TikTok users that TikTok Has Loads of Useful Information, but You Have to Verify Sources.
TikTok is not like Google and that is part of its appeal (adweek). Of course TikTok is aware. That is why the app is enhancing its search features in a bid to become GenZ’s Google. TikTok’s latest test feature aims to improve the app’s search capabilities (Techcrunch).
So we will probably talk more about TikTok native SEO 🧛with “TikTok creators stuff{ing} their videos with buzzwords- both in the captions and audio itself.” See this thread by Tasha Kim. Please tell me when you see the first people on Linkedin promoting their skills as TikTok native SEO guru, wizzard, expert oder whatever.
A Quote
“Now that Gen Z has all the attention, the internet quirks that Millennials have called their own for years can feel a bit stale, if not downright cringey. The first generation to grow up with social media in the mobile web era, Millennials are now becoming the first generation to subsequently age out of it, stuck parroting the hallmarks of a bygone digital age.” Kate Lindsay, The Millenial Pause, The Atlantic. Plus: On accidentally starting TikTok discourse, Embedded
Here is more
💎 A.u.t.h.e.n.t.i.c.i.t.y. I have been arguing that TikTok users want realness and prefer an authentic self over the polished world of Instagram. I should have known better. Thanks to this Wired-article by Brooke Erin Duffy and Ysabel Gerrard i was reminded of the early Instagram Vibe (“creative authenticity”), learned more about the contest for authenticity, ended reading Rob Horning (again). And of course i got myself an imaginary new tattoo “With each new app, Big Tech mouthpieces try to beguile us with a repackaged version of authenticity.”
💎 TikTok’s links to China are a constant talking point. Forbes has done an extensive LinkedIn investigation, identifying three hundred current employees at TikTok and its parent company ByteDance that have previously worked for Chinese state media publications. Well, TikTok is probably paying more but it might be a bit disturbing to see people in key positions working for both TikTok/ByteDance and state sponsored media spreading propaganda. “The Communist Party loves TikTok and I’m sure they’re trying to figure out how to use it, which is bad news for ByteDance”, says James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
💎 Suspected people smugglers are using TikTok to advertise illegal entry into the UK via the English Channel (BBC). “…to England. 4,000 pounds. With boats. Every day”, reads one of the posts (Balkan Insight). This content has no place on TikTok, sas TikTok. Well, the BBC has seen fresh videos posted on a weekly basis, suggesting that suspected gangs could be setting up new accounts immediately after receiving a ban.
💎 AI. TikTok has rolled a new in-app text-to-image AI generator that lets users type in a prompt and receive an image that can be used as the background in their videos.The launch of the new filter comes as text-to-image AI generators are becoming increasingly popular, especially with the launch of OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 (Techcrunch). Am i the only one who has to think about french actress Beatrice Dalle every single time?
💎 Teenage Dirtbag is a song by American rock band Wheatus. It was released on June 20, 2000. If you are old enough to remember that, you are all in for the according TikTok trend. Nylon has compiled some examples and your For You Page might have some more. Time passes like a dream. And more TikTok users might be way older than many of us still think. Pixies anyone?
