TikTok is accused of spreading extremist content of all kinds: The Taylor Swift jihadist is said to have radicalized himself via the social network. In Romania, a bot network via TikTok apparently recently made a wholly unknown pro-russian candidate the election winner. That sounds like scaremongering! How bad is the app from China really? Time for a self-experiment.
Well over a billion users around the world already use TikTok every month.The app is particularly popular among young Austrians: two out of three young people aged 11 to 17 use the service – and 80 percent of them do daily.
What do young people from Austria really see when they open TikTok for the first time? We’ll find out now.
The methodology
We register with disposable emails and create nine accounts of fictitious Austrian teenagers from each of the nine federal states. The app dose not require any proof of age or identity.
then we start a screen recording and scroll through the video feed for ten minutes. We forbid ourselves the search function, we don’t like or comment on anything so as not to give the algorithm any details about what we think is good or bad. Only the perfect Chinese code should decide what young Austrians see.
Lara, 16 (Vienna)
The first account has been created: lara, 16 years old, from Vienna. The screen recording starts and she starts scrolling. How bad can it get? Actually, her feed is very harmless and contains wisdom compressed into five seconds, but also one or two verses from the Koran. So everyone is upset about this? We are disappointed.
maya, 18 (Burgenland)
After installing the app and before registering, teenager Maya from Burgenland states her interests: anime, celebrities and memes. What does Maya see first: A funny celebrity meme about Taylor Swift? Or an excerpt from a new anime blockbuster from Japan? surprise! In the very first second on TikTok HE appears, he, the Almighty: our Jörgl! Jörg Haider will warn our teenage girls about foreigners in 2024. If you scroll further, there are police videos, Jörg Haider again, Russian propaganda. We didn’t know that TikTok was a kind of Pornhub for Herbert Kickl.
According to the app, all teenage girls between Eisenstadt and Oberwart apparently dream of men like Haider, Putin & Co. The algorithm is picking up speed, its motto: “You are what you see”. maya soon forgot that anime and celebrities even existed, her tunnel vision focused on Jörgl and Vokaki, and when she scrolled through TikTok on the way to school, she was accompanied by right-wing radical propaganda, delivered free of charge directly from China.
Lea, 16 (Lower Austria)
Our self-experiment
Lea soon drifts into a bubble of neo-esotericism, Catholic messages and horoscope wisdom. After about ten minutes, there are hardly any animal videos or gags shown anymore, the videos become darker, the tone more martial and esoteric. The app recognizes what teenage girls need these days when they’re experiencing heartbreak. No conversations with friends or letters to Bravo Dr. Summer team, but rather soulless AI videos where an AI mother god or an AI warrior tells you that you suck because you have the zodiac sign of Aries.
Simon is having a rough start to his TikTok career. As one of the first videos, he gets an après-ski crowd in the Hexenalm Fiss shouting: “And her motherfucker is called Layla”. He doesn’t yet know how bad it will be. After just a few videos,Donald Trump does his Trump Dance,then a female army recruit shouts: “My fatherland”,then Trump again,to the sounds of “YMCA” he imitates a golf tee shot,the caption: “2 days until we fire Kamala .”
A few videos later, a golden door swings open and Vladimir Putin marches resolutely towards the camera. Jörg Haider insults “social parasites and sandlers” from beyond the grave in black and white. After that: Trump, Trump, Trump, every second video. Then Haider, Putin and Xi Jinping, to loosen up après ski, Alice Weidel, Kickl.
After ten minutes, TikTok decides to invite Simon to Russia for naturalization“We offer them work, a house, a Russian wife and military training,” promises a supposed Putin to the 15-year-old Styrian. All he has to do is settle in[email protected]” apply. Brilliant: Who needs a high school diploma when they get job offers like this? We don’t have to worry about our children, the AMS is unnecessary, TikTok takes care of it.
After just a few videos,the algorithm mixes Trump into Jakob’s feed; manny videos are AI-generated fakes.There is also information about a supposed Tesla for $5,000 including a fake photo of Elon Musk.
A few videos later, verses from the Koran appear, the Prophet Mohammed urgently warns against adultery – an crucial tip for a 16-year-old. Then another fake Trump video, it’s a wild ride. Towards the end, the proportion of Islamic and Islamist videos approaches 100%, only interrupted by a fake about a non-existent Tesla smartphone. even quickly scrolling through doesn’t help anymore; at the end of the experiment, the algorithm only shows Jacob verses from the Koran. Inshallah! Dear tiktok people: Yes, Upper Austria is a theocracy, but you misunderstood something…
Mmm, Dubai chocolate! Emma’s TikTok career starts harmlessly, the Chinese app knows exactly what this teenager’s real dreams are: pistachio-filled chocolate, Donald Trump, the police, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan. You are bombarded with it every second; you could probably keep scrolling for another ten days without ever coming across a video from alexander Van der Bellen or Andreas Babler. At least in Salzburg all is still well with the world.
Noah, 16 (Carinthia)
A few police and Haider videos further, Noah also sees Vladimir Putin’s invitation to come to Russia. Cool! There he can become friends with Simon from Styria. From now on, the proportion of right-wing and pro-Russian videos increases noticeably. An FPöler from the fifth row complains about the monument to the “asylum fraudster” Marcus Omofuma, who “died during his deportation”. He does not mention that Omofuma was suffocated with tape by police officers. Noah has arrived.
Anna, 14 (Tyrol)
We all already know what will happen now.
Putin marches towards the camera. Trump stops by. And Anna also has to endure the Vokaki. Then again Russian propaganda. Trump. Gun videos. Putin. Again the strange bald German man with anti-EU propaganda.Putin. Trump. Putin. Trump. Weird German bald guy. And for a conciliatory conclusion after ten minutes, Jörg Haider sitting in a flower meadow. Completely appropriate content for a 14 year old.
Elias, 17 (Vorarlberg)
Fortunately, the self-experiment is already coming to an end, but things get wild again.
The algorithm can’t quite decide weather Elias should become a right-wing extremist or an Islamist radical. In between, a video of Andrew Tate, who is imprisoned in Romania for suspected human trafficking and wants to take away women’s right to vote, should not be missing. there are only koran videos waiting, interrupted by two clips from the Chamber of Labor. The Socialists are apparently trying to wrest Elias away from Islamism at the last moment. what a photo finish!
Epochales meidenpolitisches Fiasco
We put our smartphones away, what we see leaves us perplexed.
The reason: “Propagation of a dangerous act”. But a lot has changed on the platform since then.
We are sure that these grievances have certainly been known to media policymakers for a long time. Top priority. In order not to endanger democracy, something is certainly already being done against the Islamist-Catholic-Nazi propaganda. Or?
So we ask their press team a few questions:
- What does the media minister think about the fact that 68% of young people in this country use TikTok?
- does the media minister have an opinion on the fact that TikTok’s owning company ByteDance set up an internal control body of the Chinese Communist Party in 2014 and, according to statements from high-ranking managers, feels committed to spreading the goals and values of the Communist Party?
- Would she allow her children to use TikTok?
First, their press spokesman asks us over the phone whether our request is actually serious. Afterwards there is radio silence and we receive no answers.
Minister raab apparently prefers to continue her tradition of silence on the most dangerous media weapon since the invention of the People’s Receiver, and would rather continue to deal with the really important things.For example, with the question of how the VÖZ members can be blessed with even more tax money. Because, as we all know, the future lies in print.
Who doesn’t know it: your own 13-year-old child comes home from school, throws his cell phone in the corner and disappears into the room with the leisure courier for hours to loose himself in a home story with Armin Assinger. But it is indeed also possible that Raab himself became radicalized on TikTok and is already on his way to the Islamic State or Russia. we are now also wondering whether Susanne Raab is serious. We don’t get any answers to our questions.
You had one job, Susanne!
Conclusion
At the end of this self-experiment, it is indeed difficult to put your own feelings into words, as we brush the millions of dead brain cells from our shoulders that have trickled out of our ears while scrolling through the app. Our brains feel several million brain cells lighter, and our IQs feel like they have dropped by 12 points from scrolling.Alcohol and psychotropic drugs no longer help either.
Only one thing is certain: Thanks for everything,Jörg!
How do social media algorithms influence the radicalization of young users?
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Elias’s experiance follows a similar trend, with his TikTok feed quickly shifting towards a barrage of nationalist and far-right content. Initially curious about the latest trends and videos from his favorite influencers, he finds himself inundated with clips of politicians like Trump and Putin, interspersed with alarming propaganda. Rather than the lighthearted or aspirational content he initially sought, the algorithm continuously pushes an agenda filled with incendiary messages.Each scroll presents new clips celebrating militarism and glorifying authoritarian figures, reflecting a disturbing normalization of extreme ideologies.
This experiment highlights a broader concern about how social media algorithms shape the views of young users, frequently enough leading them down rabbit holes of hazardous and divisive content. The question remains: How can we protect vulnerable youth from becoming further radicalized by pervasive digital influences?
In a world where content is frequently enough king,the ramifications of this digital landscape necessitate an urgent conversation about accountability,ethics,and the duty of social media platforms to provide a safe and constructive surroundings,especially for impressionable teens.