What you mean to say is that time and time again, users do not want what causes them to maximize engagement levels and click on the most ads. "Users said they w

What you mean to say is that time and time again, users do not want what causes them to maximize engagement levels and click on the most ads. "Users said they wanted this feature, but we implemented it and engagement didn't go up," doesn't mean that the users lied about what they wanted, it just means that they don't want to use the product in a way that requires a lot of wasted time. TikTok users say all the time that they want the option to see a feed of videos from people they're following, in reverse-chronological order. They're not lying. The issue is that the reason they want that is so that they can use TikTok for a short (30 minutes or less) session to check for updates on things they actually care about and then close the app, which would be entirely contrary to TikTok's fiscal goals.