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

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

#71

Post by mezzie2 »

AnEro wrote: post #4

Weird to say but could be a relevant anecdote, as a trans person, that avoids politics in my socials but watches trans creators. I've never gotten a platform that doesn't show me the trans negative politics in my feeds after engaging with trans creators. I find I only get the positive politics AFTER I ignore or dislike the negatives ones.

I'd be inclined to think it's because trans people are more likely to engage with anti-trans posts.

I'm a cis lesbian and I only get pro-trans content, BUT I do get a lot of 'random bisexuals shitting on lesbians' content.

I've also noticed that when I scroll away from political posts from the left, it almost immediately tries to give me political posts from the right. The algorithm doesn't seem to pick up that my main concern with political content is whether or not it's FUNNY. The only political content I want to see on TikTok is shitposts, but the algo seems to operate under a pretty basic 'If scroll past left/right, then show right/left'.

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

#72

Post by ziddoap »

xiii1408 wrote: post #51

It's another sock puppet study: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17831 Very similar methodology to an earlier study the government cited in their case against TikTok: https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/NCRI-Report_-... There are a number of issues with these studies, one being that the way the sock puppet bots interact with content is not exactly organic. Typically they search for content in a conditioning phas…

While I am skeptical of what reasonable conclusions can be drawn from a study like this, they explain the methodology in the article. You said:

>Typically [...] followed by random scrolling during which the recommended videos are collected and classified [...] Modern recommendation algorithms famously work by examining how long and how users engage with content, and there's none of that going on here.

But they claim that videos are watched, not just collected from the recommendation page.

"The accounts watched 10 videos, followed by a one-hour pause, and repeated this process for six days"

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

#73

Post by black6 »

kenjackson wrote: post #67
black6 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've always heard the opposite. That biological sex is biological. Gender is socially constructed. That's the standard progressive position, although I'm sure you can find someone that says otherwise, or in casual usage conflates sex and gender.

Yah. That's what I meant. It's so nutso I can't keep the claims straight.

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

#74

Post by azinman2 »

AnEro wrote: post #63
Der_Einzige wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anti-trans bias is often just lookism, since many conservatives who purport to hate trans people are more than happy to engage with those who "pass". Consider 4chans fascination and fetishization of "femboys" and even this whole hilarious "saga": https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/favela-trans-girl-saga This is the same "conservative gen Z" group that somehow helps get trump elected with the Q shit... Many of them just h…

100% I started not passing then lost a ton of weight and found out I have alot of traditionally feminine interests. I went from being spat at in the street and almost attacked with no help, to people going out of their way to protect me from creepy men following me. From my experience passing, how attractive you are, and your interests/hobbies are all attached to how well you a treated in the world right now. Trans p…

> From my experience passing, how attractive you are, and your interests/hobbies are all attached to how well you a treated in the world right now.

That's always been true for anyone in just about any context.

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

#75

Post by NickC25 »

twiclo wrote: post #48
ikety wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you provide proof that such operations are, or were, ongoing at the time of the convention? And if they were happening, in what scale or magnitude?

And once that's done, please also show real-world examples of some of POTUS47's claims that "they're eating the pets, they're eating the cats, eating the dogs".

Because we all know, Donald Trump is known for pushing bullshit, and having lackeys that will ignore reality to believe him. This is not a new trend, it's one with 50+ years of examples.

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

#76

Post by thrance »

jncfhnb wrote: post #44
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

Uhh no? Neither party held a pro-palestian position, Trump told Netanyahou to "finish the job" [1] before the election.

[1] https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/artc-t...

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

#77

Post by mezzie2 »

AnEro wrote: post #29
nemomarx wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the community doesn't help by trying to dunk on the anti trans stuff a little too much but I do assume it's engagement bait

I'd say with the reverse being very true as well would largely just make it so once you get anything close to touching the topic it tosses out which ever side they think you'll engage with the most. For more anecdotal context, my other interests lean into a demographic/stereotype of an upper middle class pilates/health/cleangirl girliepop. Which from my experience they centrist/ambivalent maybe skew left but not inhe…

> For more anecdotal context, my other interests lean into a demographic/stereotype of an upper middle class pilates/health/cleangirl girliepop. Which from my experience they centrist/ambivalent maybe skew left but not inherently pro trans.

I'm not sure this is accurate, speaking as someone whose social circle has a lot of people in that group and who also sometimes ends up on that side of the algo. For various reasons, it's only socially acceptable to be outspokenly on the left in that group (more so for women over the age of 25/30), but there's a sizable minority who either disagree with certain topics or are more aligned with the right, but they aren't going to jeopardize their social circles or (particularly in the case of content creators) their audience.

It's the girl version of the men who put 'apolitical' on dating apps to hide being a conservative because they don't want to limit their dating prospects.

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

#78

Post by ziddoap »

likeabatterycar wrote: post #66
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.

If you are incapable of identifying some of the insane positions that clearly lost them the 2024 election, I'm afraid you may be in a bubble and no amount of someone explaining it is going to help.

Or, consider that "insane" is a word that's excessive for pretty much every position of every candidate of every party, primarily used to generate immediate emotional responses and shutting down conversation.

There are positions which I think are dumb, or potentially harmful, or counter to what I believe, etc. But there's rarely been a position I consider "insane" (from all parties!).

If you're immediately jumping to calling every position you disagree with "insane", you're just being hyperbolic.

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

#79

Post by notahacker »

kenjackson wrote: post #65
twiclo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You realize this is a decision the courts made. Harris agreed to follow the law. That's it. And you know what -- these same laws were on the books under all four years Trump was President. See this document from the DoJ while Trump was President: https://www.justice.gov/d9/pages/attachments/2018/02/13/28_f...

In a way it is revealing that Trump apologists' idea of an "insane Democrat policy" is sticking with existing law which affects almost nobody and they had no interest in discussing as part of their political platform, whilst the new President is pondering the idea of hitting Denmark with tariffs if they don't let him annex Greenland...

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

#80

Post by BryantD »

eagleinparadise wrote: post #56
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.

As a center-lefty I cannot believe people are so silly to not be capable of self-reflecting the left's massive blunders. Do you not remember "DEFUND THE POLICE!"? That is actually insane policy that the entire party got taken over and was forced to follow along with... even Kamala got slammed for it in the 2024 election! One of many things. So yes, Trump and the far-right have some off-the-wall crazy stuff, but the l…

I don't recall the entire Democratic Party getting taken over, no. I recall Biden saying things like "No, I don‘t support defunding the police." I remember Biden's 2022 crime prevention plan which called for $13 billion to hire 100,000 police officers around the country over a five year period.
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