TY - GEN
T1 - Experiences of censorship on TikTok across marginalised identities
AU - Ungless, Eddie L.
AU - Markl, Nina
AU - Ross, Björn
PY - 2024/7/15
Y1 - 2024/7/15
N2 - TikTok has seen exponential growth as a platform, fuelled by the success of its proprietary recommender algorithm which serves tailored content to every user - though not without controversy. Users complain of their content being unfairly suppressed by ''the algorithm'', particularly users with marginalised identities such as LGBTQ+ users. Together with content removal, this suppression acts to censor what is shared on the platform. Journalists have revealed biases in automatic censorship, as well as human moderation. We investigate experiences of censorship on TikTok, across users marginalised by their gender, LGBTQ+ identity, disability or ethnicity. We survey 627 UK-based TikTok users and find that marginalised users often feel they are subject to censorship for content that does not violate community guidelines. We highlight many avenues for future research into censorship on TikTok, with a focus on users' folk theories, which greatly shape their experiences of the platform.
AB - TikTok has seen exponential growth as a platform, fuelled by the success of its proprietary recommender algorithm which serves tailored content to every user - though not without controversy. Users complain of their content being unfairly suppressed by ''the algorithm'', particularly users with marginalised identities such as LGBTQ+ users. Together with content removal, this suppression acts to censor what is shared on the platform. Journalists have revealed biases in automatic censorship, as well as human moderation. We investigate experiences of censorship on TikTok, across users marginalised by their gender, LGBTQ+ identity, disability or ethnicity. We survey 627 UK-based TikTok users and find that marginalised users often feel they are subject to censorship for content that does not violate community guidelines. We highlight many avenues for future research into censorship on TikTok, with a focus on users' folk theories, which greatly shape their experiences of the platform.
U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2407.14164
DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2407.14164
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
BT - Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
PB - AAAI Press
T2 - 19th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
Y2 - 23 June 2025 through 26 June 2025
ER -