Digital Mind Control: The Potential Risks of Algorithmic Influence

Understanding the ways in which TikTok can influence our thoughts and behaviors so we can avoid it. From the echo chamber effect to the manipulation of political beliefs.

Hey all! Good job on leaving Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok for a few minutes so you can read this blog, I really appreciate the effort. Hopefully, I’ll trigger you with some new thoughts so it’s worth your time.

Social media… I know, right? First of all, I want to address that I’m not a social media hater at all. In fact, I regularly use Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

There’s a lot of discussion about how addictive they are and all those known side effects like anxiety, depression, etc. but that’s not why we’re here today, I just want to focus on TikTok and its amazing algorithm this time.

How the algorithm works

To start things off, I think it’s good to understand this simplified explanation of how the TikTok algorithm works:

1. First, when you open the TikTok app, you’ll see a “For You” page. This page is personalized for each user, and it’s where you’ll find a stream of videos that the algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy.
2. The algorithm starts by showing you a mix of popular videos and videos from creators you’ve engaged with before.
3. As you watch, the algorithm takes note of which videos you spend more time with, which ones you like and share, and which ones you scroll past quickly. This helps the algorithm to understand your preferences and interests.
4. The algorithm then uses this information to show you more content that it thinks you’ll like. It looks at the captions, hashtags, and sounds used in the videos you’ve engaged with to find similar content.
5. Finally, the algorithm constantly updates itself and evolves. It learns from user behavior and adjusts its recommendations accordingly.

Based on this, it’s clear that TikTok’s model is to basically reproduce the content you like based on how you interact with it to get you hooked and keep you scrolling.

Now you might be wondering, how deep down the app digs to perform this analysis. Here are the top things you do to feed TikTok’s algorithm:

1. Watch Time: When you watch a video on TikTok, the algorithm takes note of how long you watch it before scrolling to the next one. If you spend more time watching, the algorithm assumes that you find the content engaging and interesting.
2. Likes, Comments, and Shares: If you like, comment or share a video, it’s a clear indication to the algorithm that you enjoyed the content and found it worth sharing with others.
3. Scroll Past Quickly: If you scroll past a video quickly, it suggests that you’re not interested in the content.
4. Re-watching: If you re-watch a video multiple times, it suggests that you find the content particularly engaging or entertaining.
5. Language Preferences: TikTok takes note of the language in which you consume content and the languages you engage with, and uses this information to suggest more content in those languages.
6. Device and Account Settings: TikTok also takes into account your device and account settings, such as your location and time zone, to deliver a more personalized experience.

In addition, it also collects data about Follows, Search Queries, User Profiles, Ad Feedback, Video Categories, Music Preferences, Hashtag Use, Video Completion Rate, and many more.

The way TikTok uses psychology to keep you hooked

There’s a great book written by Nir Eyal called Hooked, which I really recommend if you are into the tech product and behavioral economics world like me, that explains with great detail and examples all the different techniques modern apps use to basically, keep you hooked.

If you grab the book you will notice that it was published before the popularity raise of TikTok, however, when you start reading you will feel like TikTok’s product team implemented each chapter of this book as a feature in their app to make it as addictive as it is.

One of the most amazing things they accomplished in my opinion is the For You page. This social media app differentiates a lot from all the other apps in this industry and that’s all because of this feature.

Apps like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter are more centered on connecting you with people you know and consuming each others content. Of course, they now implemented this infinite scrolling concept where you can see related content after your friends’ is over, but that’s not why you use those apps so it’s not as effective.

Also starting on these apps from scratch require you to connect with people, if not your feeds would be completely empty, which is the exact opposite of TikTok, where from the first second you get in, the For You page greets you with new content every time, you don’t even need to follow people.

This format not only lowers the entrance barrier making people enjoy the app with no delays, but it also takes advantage of the same psychological effect that opening the fridge several times in an hour has when you are bored and searching for something new and tasty to eat. The biggest difference here is that your fridge won’t have new food unless you buy it, however, TikTok always has some freshly baked videos “For You”.

What should we do now and what's the danger?

Short answer: nothing, really. The worst thing you can do is recognize TikTok as a trustworthy source of information, a guide on how things should be done, or how people are.

It’s not that the content there is fake (although you should be aware of all the new fake AI-generated content there), but as we discovered, TikTok shows you what you want to see.

For example, if you are in complete opposition to a political party, TikTok will show you the worst of them, because it knows you hate them and want you to keep watching and hating. However, content can be out of context, or the political party you like, which looks great on your TikTok page, most likely has plenty of dirt too but you are not seeing it because TikTok doesn’t want to lose you.

This is called the echo chamber effect, this happens when a person is only exposed to information and opinions that reinforce their existing beliefs and values, leading to a narrow and often extreme worldview.

That not only applies to politics, of course, probably you know better based on your experience with the app. For me, TikTok is all about AI as an amazing tool with no danger, how to become a millionaire in your 20s in three easy steps, finance, business books, travel videos, couples videos, gym motivation, and some funny standup videos.

The danger here is that TikTok’s revolutionary algorithm and format have accomplished what nobody could until now: a propaganda machine incredibly fine-tuned to show you just what you want to see and capable of making you think in a certain way if you are not cautious enough to filter the data, and all of that dynamically updating itself, living in the palm of your hand.

My personal recommendation is: use it for entertainment and don’t let it shape your thinking. Keep reading books, keep reading multiple newspapers to have an objective view, and most importantly: keep thinking.

Cheers 🍻

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