Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

psypost.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 110 posts

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#41

Post by ikety »

kenjackson wrote: post #18
spinach wrote: post #10

And many platforms had a pro-Democrat lean, especially in the 2020 election. Blaming tiktok seems like scapegoating instead of looking introspectively at the Dem's failings like having a weak leader and pushing various insane ideologies.

What insane ideologies do Dems push? That seems like a weird characterization of either party, although fits Trump specifically -- and I think a lot of Republicans are actually afraid of him.

People can't make up their minds, did dems push insane ideology or did they fail to stray far enough from the status quo?

I'd argue they ran one of the least controversial campaigns in comparison to the current global political climate. I think those in disagreement were successfully convinced by the opposing party.

Trump's first few weeks makes it clear he was the big mover and shaker.

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#42

Post by BryantD »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #8

Why is it called bias, as if the results should be even? Would we say that there is a bias in TikTok to show interesting videos, instead of boring videos? I guess you could describe it as such, but the term carries an implication of impropriety with it, as if what displays bias should rightfully not display bias. Liberals love consuming Trump content, maybe even more than conservatives. Sort of like the Howard Stern…

I don't think there's any shortage of Republicans posting on X about how dumb progressives are; I'm skeptical that liberals are any more prone to outrage than conservatives are. Check out, say, liboftiktok if you want a prime example.

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#43

Post by black6 »

kenjackson wrote: post #18
spinach wrote: post #10

And many platforms had a pro-Democrat lean, especially in the 2020 election. Blaming tiktok seems like scapegoating instead of looking introspectively at the Dem's failings like having a weak leader and pushing various insane ideologies.

What insane ideologies do Dems push? That seems like a weird characterization of either party, although fits Trump specifically -- and I think a lot of Republicans are actually afraid of him.

That biological sex is a social construct, for one, and elementary school children need to learn about it.

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#44

Post by jncfhnb »

latentcall wrote: post #3

Curious as when I was still using TikTok I was getting pro-Trump content in between my usual communist/worker’s rights or pro-Palestinian content.

> pro-Palestinian content

This is an issue heavily pushed by the Republican Party

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#45

Post by ziddoap »

carlosdp wrote: post #20

That's not algorithmic bias, that's a large delta in content quality. Videos coming out of the Harris camps were milquetoast in comparison to the Trump camp. Of course those videos get more attention, from people that like him and hate him, and therefore get pushed more by the algorithm.

>Of course those videos get more attention [...] and therefore get pushed more by the algorithm.

From the article:

"These differences were consistent across all three states and could not be explained by differences in engagement metrics like likes, views, shares, comments, or followers."

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#46

Post by ikety »

black6 wrote: post #43
kenjackson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What insane ideologies do Dems push? That seems like a weird characterization of either party, although fits Trump specifically -- and I think a lot of Republicans are actually afraid of him.

That biological sex is a social construct, for one, and elementary school children need to learn about it.

When did you see Harris push that in her campaign? Her campaign was extremely basic and as uncontroversial as possible (to the detriment of the dems in my opinion)

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#47

Post by TaurenHunter »

kenjackson wrote: post #18
spinach wrote: post #10

And many platforms had a pro-Democrat lean, especially in the 2020 election. Blaming tiktok seems like scapegoating instead of looking introspectively at the Dem's failings like having a weak leader and pushing various insane ideologies.

What insane ideologies do Dems push? That seems like a weird characterization of either party, although fits Trump specifically -- and I think a lot of Republicans are actually afraid of him.

[flagged]

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#48

Post by twiclo »

ikety wrote: post #41
kenjackson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What insane ideologies do Dems push? That seems like a weird characterization of either party, although fits Trump specifically -- and I think a lot of Republicans are actually afraid of him.

People can't make up their minds, did dems push insane ideology or did they fail to stray far enough from the status quo? I'd argue they ran one of the least controversial campaigns in comparison to the current global political climate. I think those in disagreement were successfully convinced by the opposing party. Trump's first few weeks makes it clear he was the big mover and shaker.

I can make up my mind. They pushed insane ideologies. At the convention the other day not a single nominee said, "Maybe we shouldn't fund sex changes for illegal immigrant prisoners." In fact they supported it.

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#49

Post by gmd63 »

The main use case of technology and AI is to sway public opinion. Elon Musk is one of the richest men in the world and that's where he spends most of his focus. If you're building technology, know that this is the endgame, and proceed with caution.

The amount of deceit per dollar you can generate today is profoundly inexpensive when compared to the entirety of human history. Sadly, our cowardly tech giants are the antithesis of the morals espoused in comic books they grew up on, seeking to abdicate all responsibility as they achieve unprecedented power.

Re: TikTok's algorithm exhibited pro-Republican bias during 2024 presidential race

#50

Post by api »

jsheard wrote: post #27
ahs1 wrote: post #16

what about the other apps?

Well X has a pretty clear slant as of late. I've tried making a fresh burner account a few times to see what the default algorithm is like and surprise, it's dominated by Elon Musk himself, his fanboys/orbiters, and political content which strongly aligns with his views. Even when dissenting political content slips into the feed it's usually still about Elon Musk, the algorithm surfaces more mentions of him than the…

What was formerly Twitter is now some guy's private web site, just a guy with a whole lot of money.
Post reply on HN