Leaked TikTok document exposes 'sad' secret to addictive feeds

Explore More

TikTok’s top secret algorithm has at last been revealed, and it’s truly depressing.

A freshly leaked internal document has offered new insight into the disturbing ways the immensely popular video platform keeps users scrolling, including by prodding them toward “sad” content. 

The document, said to be called “TikTok Algo 101,” was shared with the New York Times by an individual authorized to read it but not share it. The anonymous whistleblower gave it to the publication after becoming disturbed by its revelation that the social media application knowingly pushes users toward “‘sad’ content that could induce self-harm,” the Times’ Ben Smith reported. 

“The document explains frankly that in the pursuit of the company’s ‘ultimate goal’ of adding daily active users, it has chosen to optimize for two closely related metrics in the stream of videos it serves: ‘retention’ — that is, whether a user comes back — and ‘time spent.’ The app wants to keep you there as long as possible,” wrote Smith. To do this, the TikTok algorithm has been optimized for four main goals: “user value,” “long-term user value,” “creator value” and “platform value” the document explained. 

While the bottom line-based push toward sadness-inducing videos is certainly not in users’ best interests, “there’s nothing inherently sinister or incomprehensible about the TikTok recommendation algorithm outlined in the document” Smith concluded. 

Indeed, the drawbacks of the mystery-shrouded algorithm arguably pale in comparison to another revelation by the document: its lack of respect for user privacy. 

According to a screenshot reviewed by the Times, TikTok content moderators have access not only to publicly shared content but also to that which friends privately upload to the platform to share with each other. This sets TikTok apart from apps including WhatsApp and Signal, which offer end-to-end encryption and thus more privacy. 

The lack of protections for TikTok user data is thus arguably the biggest problem with the application. 

“Freaking out about surveillance or censorship by TikTok is a distraction from the fact that these issues are so much bigger than any specific company or its Chinese ownership,” Samm Sacks, a cybersecurity policy fellow at the research organization New America told the Times. “Even if TikTok were American-owned, there is no law or regulation that prevents Beijing from buying its data on the open data broker market.”

TikTok did not return The Post’s request for comment.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3J7kGtmaW9fobKit8SdZK2hm6m8rHnDqJqupZWjwW6x16mmrJ2jYsCisIysnJyqlal6tbuMmpudoZOptrexjJ%2BcnpyjZA%3D%3D