Is TikTok becoming a real source of information for many Internet users? In any case, this is evidenced by a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in the United States. The results of this survey are indeed very clear on this issue. First of all, we note that in a previous study conducted in 2020, 22% of US TikTok users said they used it to search for information there. This figure is currently 33% in 2022.
Is there too much misinformation on TikTok?
At the same time, this figure drops sharply on competing platforms. So it went from 59% in 2020 to 53 on Twitter. The same trend on Facebook (from 54 to 44%), but also on Reddit from 42 to 37%. Finally, on on is seeing the same trajectory on Snapchat with a rate that drops from 19% to 15%. These results should be viewed in light of a recent study published by NewsGuard. This highlighted the dangers of misinformation on TikTok. Thus, the organization was able to identify son a selection of search queries on important current topics that almost 20% of the videos contained false information. Specifically, when users search on current topics such as the war in Ukraine, US school shootings, or covid vaccines, they stumble upon erroneous and/or misleading information. Strongly put in cause, the Chinese platform then wanted to protect itself. The representative said that the community network principles social “Clarify that we do not tolerate malicious misinformation, including medical misinformation, and will remove it from the platform. We partner with trusted voices to raise authoritative content on topics related to public health and we partner with fact-independent verification tools that help us evaluate the accuracy of the content. »
