Summary
A German poll revealed that TikTok users are less likely to view China as a dictatorship, criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or support vaccines and climate change action compared to traditional media consumers.
The study, commissioned by a foundation linked to Germany’s Free Democrats, highlights TikTok’s role in shaping opinions, with users showing greater susceptibility to misinformation, including narratives favoring China and Russia.
Younger TikTok users were particularly impacted, correlating with growing support for far-right parties like the AfD.
Experts warn of the app’s role in spreading foreign disinformation.
Social media + easily influenced kids is bound to have an effect.
But I agree this news doesn’t show causation just correlation.
Just be very aware of confirmation bias, especially when it comes to politics.
It is reasonable to assume correlation in the context the causation occurs in. To imply TikTok isn’t influencing people is baseless ignorance or deliberately misleading.
Either you’re not actually replying to me or strawmanning me because I said said this.
Apart from that, all I said was that the poll showed correlation between tiktok use and favourable views of Russia/China. I said the poll didn’t show causation, not that it didn’t exist. And I was only talking about views of Russia/China not generally on if tiktok is influencing people.