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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Soc. Psychol.
Sec. Attitudes, Social Justice and Political Psychology
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frsps.2024.1497434
This article is part of the Research Topic Social and Political Psychological Perspectives on Global Threats to Democracy View all 6 articles

Information Manipulation on TikTok and its Relation to American Users' Beliefs about China

Provisionally accepted
Lee Jussim Lee Jussim 1*Danit Finkelstein Danit Finkelstein 1Sonia Yanovsky Sonia Yanovsky 1Jacob Zucker Jacob Zucker 2Anisha Jagdeep Anisha Jagdeep 2Collin Vasko Collin Vasko 2Ankita Jagdeep Ankita Jagdeep 2Jeol Finkelstein Jeol Finkelstein 2
  • 1 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, United States
  • 2 Network Contagion Research Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Three studies explored how TikTok, a China-owned social media platform, may be manipulated to conceal content critical of China while amplifying narratives that align with Chinese Communist Party objectives. Study I employed a user journey methodology, wherein newly created accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube were used to assess the nature and prevalence of content related to sensitive Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issues, specifically Tibet, Tiananmen Square, Uyghur rights, and Xinjiang. The results revealed that content critical of China was made far less available than it was on Instagram and YouTube. Study II, an extension of Study I, investigated whether the prevalence of content that is pro- and anti-CCP on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube aligned with user engagement metrics (likes and comments), which social media platforms typically use to amplify content. The results revealed a disproportionately high ratio of pro-CCP to anti-CCP content on TikTok, despite users engaging significantly more with anti-CCP content, suggesting propagandistic manipulation. Study III involved a survey administered to 1214 Americans that assessed their time spent on social media platforms and their perceptions of China. Results indicated that TikTok users, particularly heavy users, exhibited significantly more positive attitudes towards China’s human rights record and expressed greater favorability towards China as a travel destination. These results are discussed in context of a growing body of literature identifying a massive CCP propaganda bureaucracy devoted to controlling the flow of information in ways that threaten free speech and free inquiry.

    Keywords: Authoritarian Foreign Influence, Information manipulation, propaganda, Chinese Communist Party, Social Media, TikTok

    Received: 17 Sep 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jussim, Finkelstein, Yanovsky, Zucker, Jagdeep, Vasko, Jagdeep and Finkelstein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lee Jussim, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, United States

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