A Tiktok employee reports that the company manipulated the algorithm to increase the visibility of World Cup content and Taylor Swift content.
Tiktok’s Jeff Louisma compared the practice to how Netflix promotes certain films on its homepage.
The Tiktok algorithm is provided with protective mechanisms by the US authorities, who fear influencing campaigns.
Tiktok rigged its own algorithm to promote certain events like the soccer World Cup or Taylor Swift joining the platform. That’s what a cybersecurity executive at the company said Saturday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
“We promote content like the soccer World Cup or the arrival of Taylor Swift, sometimes elevating it above the rating it would normally have received from the recommendation system. It’s similar to when Netflix promotes a special video or movie on the home page,” Jeff Louisma, head of cyber and data defense for Tiktok’s US data protection division, told SXSW attendees.