TikTok’s video recommendation algorithm easily turns an anonymous person into a star overnight. From there, the risk of an information scandal explosion is also higher.
On TikTok, users easily find a famous account overnight. Many TikTok channels have hundreds of videos, but only a few thousand views. However, just a video causing curiosity, controversy … meets tastes, that channel easily has millions of hits.
This comes from TikTok’s “for you” tag suggestion algorithm. This algorithm will suggest videos that users might be interested in and are growing well. TikTok’s proposed algorithm is out of control “There are two factors for this algorithm to be successful: it is responsive to user preferences and high engagement. Sensational and controversial content will become a rapidly growing group without strict censorship ”, Pham Thien Trang, writer and founder of Story Maker. TikTok’s algorithm can make anyone famous overnight. Photo: Getty. In fact, TikTok’s censorship team is not working very well. Prohibited videos, violating the content policy of this social network are posted and appear in the tag “for you”. Content from gambling site advertising, regional discrimination, violence, hostile language, sneaky footage … all appeared with millions of views. HuyVu channel ****** posted dozens of videos about himself, but only around a few tens of thousands of views. But with the content of sneaking a male shampoo shop, this channel has 3 consecutive videos with 1.8 million, 3.5 million and 5.6 million views. Also with secretly filmed contents, the Chinese **** channel has just been established for a few weeks and has only posted only 5 videos. However, a video of which secretly filmed the hostesses of a karaoke bar reached nearly 1 million views. This shows that TikTok’s algorithm ignores the problem that these videos are sneaky content, invading the privacy of others. Sacrificing privacy, TikTok pampered viewers’ curious “interests”. In addition, erotic content is also available on TikTok. A close-up video of round one on Jessie **** reached nearly 15 million hits in less than a week. Meanwhile, other videos with non-infringing content of this channel only reach maximum 100,000 views. Other videos such as burning money, hair removal, debt collection … have also reached millions of views, even though this is not a channel for celebrities. From the examples above, users may find TikTok’s role in moderation quite fuzzy. Meanwhile, the platform’s proposed algorithm is too powerful enough to turn dirty content from an unknown channel into a phenomenon overnight. How TikTok encourages users to “create” content “My newly created channel has a very fast growth rate. I think I am supported by TikTok. At the beginning, my account instructed me to cook about the first 3 videos with a huge increase in views. I took it as a signal. good and do the same content. However, later access only reaches less than 10%, ”said Minh Chau, a student at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. Not only does this happen with individual TikTok channels, many of the early news channels’ views spiked to several million. However, when the number of videos started to increase, this number was only around a few tens of thousands. Videos of dangerous actions without protective tools attracted 8 million views on TikTok. Take the example of the Duc Thung channel ***. in the first 18 videos, this channel has moderate engagement. However, the video that violates TikTok’s content policy about risky behavior reached 8.2 million views. Specifically, the man in the video walks on a wire, without protective tools. According to TikTok’s policy, this social network prohibits users from posting videos that are risky or dangerous, done in an unprofessional setting or without the necessary skills and safety measures. “We do not allow content that describes, promotes, normalizes or celebrates such behavior, including amateur performances or dangerous challenges,” policy TikTok writes. Since that 8.2 million views video, Duc Thung **** account continued to post risky videos that violated TikTok’s policies. The more risky the video, the more it can reach more people. However, after only a few months, the access of this channel no longer reaches the number of millions. The contents walking on the rope started to be boring, the person turned to balance on the wooden post after receiving the comment “it is too boring”. Video “new format” attracted 8 million views immediately. “Unlike YouTube, account holders on TikTok do not need to work every day to get more subscribers and views. TikTok channel owners only need to know how to refresh themselves in many ways. interaction is higher than the rest of the content, “shared Huu Nhat, a content creator in Ho Chi Minh City. In the case of Duc Thung **** channel, video views are directly proportional to the danger this account takes. The moderator role is vacant “The propagation algorithm and user preference is not wrong. However, TikTok needs to strengthen censorship if it does not want the algorithm to abide the large content scandals that may occur in the future”, Minh Analysis by Phuong, communication expert from SeaEvent. According to Mr. Phuong, the fact that TikTok is directing channel owners to more attractive content, but leaving censorship blank could push the company to content scandals and crises such as Facebook and YouTube. In June 2020, a family fell into tears just because of a 15-second video on TikTok. Accordingly, the account @Vu_n *** posted a video with the content “the groom in Binh Phuoc holding the bride running straight into the house despite the family’s obstruction”. According to the account holder above, because the bride is pregnant before the wedding, the mother-in-law is not allowed to enter the front door. The groom did not want his wife to lose, so he arbitrarily carried the bride to the main door. Before being removed from TikTok, the above video attracted thousands of shares, interactions and hundreds of comments. The false 15-second video once affected a family in Binh Phuoc. In the comment section, many opinions are reviled by the groom’s family because they believe that pregnant daughter-in-law is not allowed to enter the front door, which deserves condemnation. However, the above video was confirmed by the groom’s family to be false. Talk to Zing Bui Tam, the groom’s cousin, said that on the wedding day, seeing that his daughter-in-law wearing high heels and wedding dress was difficult to walk, so the groom’s mother asked his son to take his wife into the house so he wouldn’t fall. However, because the groom goes too fast, the mother stops her. According to TikTok’s content policy, the above video violates the section of misinformation that affects others. “We remove false information that could harm an individual’s health or the broader public safety,” says TikTok content policy. However, until the press received a question, the video was still available on TikTok. This shows that the platform’s censorship layer is in serious trouble. “The misleading short video format and the terrible spread of TikTok put this platform in danger of becoming an information bomb if not strictly censored,” said Tuan Kiet, Production Director from the company Kites Entertainment said. Video distinguishes regions, promoting gambling rampant TikTok Videos of violence, discrimination, and spirituality still appear on TikTok for many months without being removed even though they violate the platform’s policy on bad content.
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