TikTok is infested with fake news, according to this study – Gearrice

TikTok is surely the worst social network to find out about the latest news, according to the new study by NewsGuard. Indeed, the number of fake news on the platform is particularly high there, on several different current topics. An alarming observation when the application now serves as a search engine for many teenagers.

If we cannot deny the terrible efficiency of its algorithm to make us spend hours in front of our screen nor the considerable increase in the quality of videos in recent years, we must recognize that TikTok has a long list of flaws of size. Sometimes singled out for its use of personal data, sometimes for its stupid and dangerous challenges, the application is far from unanimous among Internet users.

Newsguards new study may not improve its public image. According to the company committed against misinformation, the Chinese social network gives pride of place to fake news. The latter are indeed much more present on TikTok than among its competitors: according to the organization, it is almost one in five videos that share false information.

To achieve this result, Newsguard searched for various news stories within the app, from the war in Ukraine to Covid vaccines. This method was not chosen at random, as teenagers increasingly use TikTok as a real search engine, gradually replacing Google. Regarding health, for example, Newsguard evokes the case of an influencer highlighting chloroquine to treat all her ailments, when even its effectiveness against Covid has never been proven.

On the same subject TikTok: you can now activate or deactivate subtitles on all videos

TikTok toxicity is now a significant danger because Google research suggests that TikTok is increasingly used by young people () to find informationis alarmed NewsGuard, which also specifies that the subjects sought by young people are very often controversial online, such as the American elections. For its part, TikTok replied that its Rules make it clear that we do not allow harmful misinformation, including medical misinformation, and we are removing content that falls within it from the platform.

Source: NewsGuard

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TikTok is infested with fake news, according to this study - Gearrice