The cause is probably a bit more benign than what you hint at. China likely mandates that positive content in the domestic market, but in overseas markets TikTo

The cause is probably a bit more benign than what you hint at. China likely mandates that positive content in the domestic market, but in overseas markets TikTok is simply left free to do the usual thing of sorting content for maximum user engagement with the app. The history of all social media shows that when you optimize for engagement in that way dark, hostile, triggering, or just mindless addictive filler is what you get. As I said elsewhere: trash seems to maximize engagement. If China let TikTok prioritize only engagement in China they’d also have a feed of nothing but mental junk food.