Many international locations have already banned TikTok for numerous causes, together with the chance of espionage by China, manipulation of public opinion, and the endangerment of younger customers resulting from violent content material. In 2024, the European Fee started authorized proceedings towards TikTok. Throughout the week of 11 March, the French Nationwide Meeting is about to look at the creation of a board of inquiry to look at the psychological results of TikTok on minors, trying specifically on the threat of suicidal behaviour and ideation.
Banned in January 2025 within the US, TikTok continues to be one of the vital influential platforms on the earth, with 1.5 billion lively customers worldwide and 15 million month-to-month customers in France. One in two kids in France aged 11-12 has a TikTok account, in accordance with Arcom (the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication), despite the fact that the minimal age for signing up is 13. Fashionable with youthful generations, it’s shaping their relationship with info and more and more competing with conventional media. However behind its viral challenges and fashionable movies, there’s a rising concern: has TikTok develop into an accelerator of misinformation and a covert software of affect? What’s the affect of its algorithmic mannequin on crucial pondering and democracy?
Analysis reveals that TikTok is a breeding floor for misinformation. A examine carried out between January and March 2020 discovered that 20% to 32% of movies about Covid-19 shared on the platform contained false or deceptive info. In 2022, an evaluation carried out by Newsguard confirmed these findings, exhibiting that 20% of stories movies on TikTok contained deceptive info.
In contrast to conventional media retailers, the place sources are verified and fact-checking instruments are used, TikTok depends on an opaque and extremely personalised algorithm designed to maximise consumer engagement, with out regard for the reliability of content material, and with out info prioritisation or content material labelling. The extra viral a video is, the extra it’s promoted, no matter whether or not it’s true or not.
TikTok versus Twitter and Fb: What are the Particular Traits of Pretend Information Propagation
Opposite to Fb and Twitter, the place viral attain depends primarily on handbook sharing and consumer interactions, TikTok instantly promotes content material to a large viewers with out requiring lively intervention.
A examine by the Integrity Institute confirmed that TikTok amplifies false info greater than its rivals, despite the fact that X (Twitter) is thought to unfold false info six instances sooner than true info. This dynamic fuels a phenomenon of elevated misinformation the place false info circulates sooner and extra broadly than verified info.
TikTok’s participating short-form video format is an asset for viral attain, however a hindrance to crucial evaluation. In contrast to YouTube, Fb or X (Twitter), which permit long-form movies, detailed articles or dialogue threads, TikTok imposes a paradigm of pace, with movies usually lasting between 15 and 60 seconds.
Penalties :
- No time to dig deeper or contextualise info
- Customers eat passively with out checking
- A placing piece of pretend information turns into extra credible than an in depth denial.
Steady Scrolling and an Algorithm that Promotes Misinformation
TikTok’s limitless scroll, the place movies play one after one other with out interruption, encourages passive consumption of content material. This format limits the time obtainable for reflection and verification of data, thus amplifying the viral attain of unverified movies.
This dynamic encourages computational propaganda i.e. the usage of algorithms, automation and anonymity to control public opinion and massively disseminate deceptive content material. In sensible phrases, automated bots can be utilized to share movies in a coordinated method, giving a misunderstanding of fashionable help. That is how infinite scrolling turns into a strategic lever for the large-scale dissemination of disinformation.
In Could 2024, the NGO International Witness demonstrated the platform’s incapacity to detect ads containing false info, specific throughout election campaigns, regardless of an overhaul of its moderation in October 2024 to assist AI.
TikTok additionally makes use of subtle audio methods to control opinion, thereby reinforcing the unfold of misinformation. By amplifying emotion and viral attain, audio content material facilitates the mass dissemination of misinformation.
Younger Individuals, a Prime Goal
Based on a Statista survey, carried out between April 2023 and March 2024, 69% of French adults below the age of 30 commonly use TikTok, demonstrating the app’s rising affect on this age group. On the identical time, an Ifop examine revealed that 69% of 18-24 12 months olds imagine at the very least one scientific falsehood, illustrating the dimensions of the problem by way of info literacy.
Nevertheless, TikTok has a significant affect on the perceptions of youthful generations, significantly because of the absence of any dialogue about concepts. Like different platforms, its algorithm tends to accentuate the “filter bubble” impact, trapping customers in info environments that consolidate their beliefs by providing them content material that aligns with these beliefs.
This phenomenon has already been highlighted in research trying on the position of social media within the radicalisation of younger folks. This analysis reveals that jihadist teams exploit flaws in algorithms to unfold their ideologies via highly effective emotional content material.
Lastly, TikTok has broadly shared viral challenges that immediately endanger the lives of younger customers. Examples embody the notorious “Blackout Problem” which entails holding one’s breath till passing out, and the “Skullbreaker Problem”, which entails tripping a pal, inflicting them to fall and undergo critical accidents.
Does TikTok Endanger Democracy?
Accused of serving China’s pursuits, TikTok is now within the authorities’ sights. In July 2023, a French Senate report denounced the dangers of espionage and manipulation via knowledge assortment by ByteDance, its Chinese language guardian firm.
Extra lately (February 2025), the Viginum report revealed that overseas actors had exploited the platform’s moderation flaws to affect the Romanian presidential election.
Internationally, a number of international locations have determined to limit or ban TikTok.
Three important causes clarify this choice:
Nationwide Safety and Digital Sovereignty
The United States banned TikTok in January 2025 resulting from issues that consumer knowledge might be accessed by Chinese language authorities. India had already taken this measure in 2020 amid border tensions with China.
Preserving Cultural Values
International locations resembling Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and Jordan have blocked TikTok, deeming sure content material inappropriate or prone to trigger social and spiritual tensions.
Defending Younger Individuals and Addressing Violent Content material
Albania blocked the app in 2024, accusing it of encouraging harassment amongst younger folks, and turning into the primary nation on the continent to utterly block TikTok (for one 12 months). The sharing of content material linked to terrorism led to Somalia’s choice to ban the app.
What are the Choices for Regulating TikTok in France and the EU?
In response to rising issues about TikTok, France and the European Union have adopted measures to control the usage of the platform. In March 2023, France banned the set up of “leisure” functions, together with TikTok, on the skilled gadgets of civil servants, citing dangers to nationwide safety.
Right here’s a full shot of the group of TikTok creators. pic.twitter.com/9NBBNeL6mC
— Kalhan (@KalhanR) March 22, 2023
On the identical time, the European Union launched the Digital Providers Act (DSA), imposing better obligations on on-line platforms by way of the transparency of their algorithms and knowledge storage, and offering for penalties of as much as 6% of the corporate’s annual worldwide gross sales within the occasion of non-compliance.
In February 2024, the European Fee instituted formal proceedings to evaluate whether or not TikTok had breached the Digital Providers Act, with specific regard to the safety of minors and promoting transparency. These are the second proceedings of their type below the brand new European guidelines, following these [concerning X (Twitter)].
@bbcnews There was numerous footage exhibiting devastation in Myanmar following Friday’s highly effective earthquake, however this one is an AI-generated faux. #Myanmar #Earthquake #Quake #Thailand #Tremor #Injury #BBCVerify #AI #Debunk #FactCheck #BBCNews ♬ unique sound – BBC Information
The outcomes haven’t but been printed and there’s no fastened time period for these proceedings. The DSA offers the Fee the facility to impose monetary penalties. Nevertheless, a complete ban on TikTok in Europe can be an excessive measure – not foreseen by the DSA – and would require advanced political decision-making.
The European Union is at present looking for to strike a fragile stability between defending customers – particularly younger folks – and upholding digital freedoms.
This text first appeared on eflexscience.univ and was written by Fabrice Lollia, Physician of Info and Communication Sciences, Université Gustave Eiffel.
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