TikTok exposes new users to Russia/Ukraine war disinformation
People opening new accounts on TikTok are quickly shown misinformation and disinformation about the Russia/Ukraine war. An investigation by anti-misinformation company NewsGuard discovered , by setting up a pair of tests to see how TikTok handled information about the war, that a new account that simply scrolled the app’s For You feature and watched videos about the conflict would be shown false or misleading content within 40 minutes. According to the Newsguard researchers, 'none of the videos ... contained any information about the trustworthiness of the source, warnings, fact-checks, or additional information that could empower users with reliable information.' System 🤖 TikTok For You recommendation algorithm Operator: ByteDance/TikTok Developer: Byte D ance/TikTok Country: USA; Global Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts; Govt - defence; Politics Purpose: Recommend content Technology: Recommendation algorithm Issue: Mis/disinformation
- Date it happened
- 2022-03-01
- Organisation involved
- TikTok
- Product, system or model
- For You
This incident was imported from AIAAIC and is used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.