5 ms·

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotte

by lorlou 5y ago

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotten people with loads of free time.

rapsey 5y ago
My point exactly.
NathanKP 5y ago
Political content isn't banned, it just doesn't perform well with the audience on TikTok, which is generally younger and mostly less interested in politics. Usually when I see political content it is from someone dueting the original content to troll it, and the troll outperforms the original. People try to get their political content trending on TikTok, but it seems like it usually just gets parodied and they basically get laughed off the platform.
- rapsey 5y ago
  It is not just about audience. The political content is definitely de-emphasised and made harder to appear on peoples stream. It does not just happen by itself. It is moderated.
  - NathanKP 5y ago
    I really don't think it is as human curated as you think. A lot of political content is very low effort. For example boring political rants that regurgitate the same tired old political lines that we've already heard a million times before. This stuff doesn't last long on For You page because it doesn't have people watching it loop multiple times, and it doesn't get likes, so the algorithm deemphasizes it. I have seen high effort political content hit the FYP page though and get millions of views. Like there is a guy who composes his own songs with a political theme and sings and dances them. That hits FYP all the time, because it is high effort and engaging, and people enjoy the tune and watch it loop a few times. High effort political content does succeed and does hit FYP, but it is rare to see because most people haven't figured out how to do it right for the TikTok audience. The kind of tired old outrage memes that make it on Twitter won't succeed on TikTok because they don't generate the same algorithmic signals.
xvector 5y ago
> they've managed to ban all political content Can you please source this claim? Plenty of people see highly political content on their FYP, but it is a niche within TikTok because it's not really why people use it.
flycaliguy 5y ago
I guess it depends on what you would label as political. Breitbart (sigh… I know) stated that “Politics is downstream of culture”. It’s not a new idea but I have no doubt that these non-political spaces will serve as cultural funnels into various ideological bubbles.
madeofpalk 5y ago
> What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. This is... not my experience with TikTok at all. I think what you've just described is your own little filter bubble that Tiktok presents. My Tiktok is very gay. Not that that is political, but I get a lot of trans rights content, queer issues/advocacy, BLM content, pro-choice content, "landlords are evil" content etc etc and usually its funny and witty and I love it.
- rapsey 5y ago
  You say it is not your experience then you say you don't get political content.
  - dntrkv 5y ago
    > but I get a lot of trans rights content, queer issues/advocacy, BLM content, pro-choice content, "landlords are evil" content
  - madeofpalk 5y ago
    Sorry for being unclear - I meant to say that just generally gay content is not political. Everything else I listed after I think is somewhat political (because politics is more than just saying “Republicans are bad!!!”)
tootie 5y ago
It's kinda unbelievable that there so much praise for their tightly controlled content and so much scorn for moderation done by Twitter or Reddit. It goes to show how much people's judgement is based on expectations and not absolutes.
- dimmke 5y ago
  I keep seeing these things about TikTok that are absolutely not true. There is definitely political content on TikTok. Here's a few with > 100k likes from a minute of searching "Immigration": https://www.tiktok.com/@janetwthehazeleyes/video/6941565989570071813 https://www.tiktok.com/@janetwthehazeleyes/video/69415659895... https://www.tiktok.com/@attorneyericprice/video/6919939024132115717 https://www.tiktok.com/@attorneyericprice/video/691993902413... "Gun control" https://www.tiktok.com/@feministmama/video/6961949052061617414 https://www.tiktok.com/@feministmama/video/69619490520616174... I keep seeing "facts" about TikTok posted on HN threads about it that don't hold up to basic research. It's so bizarre.
  - tootie 5y ago
    Idk, I've never opened tiktok. I'm reacting to people's comments.

by lorlou 5y ago

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotten people with loads of free time.

rapsey 5y ago

My point exactly.

NathanKP 5y ago

Political content isn't banned, it just doesn't perform well with the audience on TikTok, which is generally younger and mostly less interested in politics. Usually when I see political content it is from someone dueting the original content to troll it, and the troll outperforms the original. People try to get their political content trending on TikTok, but it seems like it usually just gets parodied and they basically get laughed off the platform.

rapsey 5y ago
It is not just about audience. The political content is definitely de-emphasised and made harder to appear on peoples stream. It does not just happen by itself. It is moderated.
- NathanKP 5y ago
  I really don't think it is as human curated as you think. A lot of political content is very low effort. For example boring political rants that regurgitate the same tired old political lines that we've already heard a million times before. This stuff doesn't last long on For You page because it doesn't have people watching it loop multiple times, and it doesn't get likes, so the algorithm deemphasizes it. I have seen high effort political content hit the FYP page though and get millions of views. Like there is a guy who composes his own songs with a political theme and sings and dances them. That hits FYP all the time, because it is high effort and engaging, and people enjoy the tune and watch it loop a few times. High effort political content does succeed and does hit FYP, but it is rare to see because most people haven't figured out how to do it right for the TikTok audience. The kind of tired old outrage memes that make it on Twitter won't succeed on TikTok because they don't generate the same algorithmic signals.

xvector 5y ago

> they've managed to ban all political content Can you please source this claim? Plenty of people see highly political content on their FYP, but it is a niche within TikTok because it's not really why people use it.

flycaliguy 5y ago

I guess it depends on what you would label as political. Breitbart (sigh… I know) stated that “Politics is downstream of culture”. It’s not a new idea but I have no doubt that these non-political spaces will serve as cultural funnels into various ideological bubbles.

madeofpalk 5y ago

> What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. This is... not my experience with TikTok at all. I think what you've just described is your own little filter bubble that Tiktok presents. My Tiktok is very gay. Not that that is political, but I get a lot of trans rights content, queer issues/advocacy, BLM content, pro-choice content, "landlords are evil" content etc etc and usually its funny and witty and I love it.

rapsey 5y ago
You say it is not your experience then you say you don't get political content.
- dntrkv 5y ago
  > but I get a lot of trans rights content, queer issues/advocacy, BLM content, pro-choice content, "landlords are evil" content
- madeofpalk 5y ago
  Sorry for being unclear - I meant to say that just generally gay content is not political. Everything else I listed after I think is somewhat political (because politics is more than just saying “Republicans are bad!!!”)

tootie 5y ago

It's kinda unbelievable that there so much praise for their tightly controlled content and so much scorn for moderation done by Twitter or Reddit. It goes to show how much people's judgement is based on expectations and not absolutes.

dimmke 5y ago
I keep seeing these things about TikTok that are absolutely not true. There is definitely political content on TikTok. Here's a few with > 100k likes from a minute of searching "Immigration": https://www.tiktok.com/@janetwthehazeleyes/video/6941565989570071813 https://www.tiktok.com/@janetwthehazeleyes/video/69415659895... https://www.tiktok.com/@attorneyericprice/video/6919939024132115717 https://www.tiktok.com/@attorneyericprice/video/691993902413... "Gun control" https://www.tiktok.com/@feministmama/video/6961949052061617414 https://www.tiktok.com/@feministmama/video/69619490520616174... I keep seeing "facts" about TikTok posted on HN threads about it that don't hold up to basic research. It's so bizarre.
- tootie 5y ago
  Idk, I've never opened tiktok. I'm reacting to people's comments.