I kinda doubt this only because it would be really dumb on TikTok's part. If you want to inflate engagement you don't need bots because you're the platform (see

I kinda doubt this only because it would be really dumb on TikTok's part. If you want to inflate engagement you don't need bots because you're the platform (see: Facebook lawsuit inflating video views). It would be cheaper, easier to implement, harder for outsiders to detect, and do things that bots can't do like engage with real user accounts.