How TikTok bombards young men with misogynistic videos

theguardian.com:

An Observer investigation has revealed how TikTok is promoting misogynistic content to young people despite claiming to ban it. Videos of the online personality Andrew Tate, who has been criticised by domestic abuse campaigners for normalising extreme and outdated views about women, are among those pushed by the algorithm to users via the curated For You homepage.

We conducted an experiment to get an insight into what young people are being shown on the platform, which allows users to join from the age of 13. To ensure the findings wouldn’t be influenced by our previous search history, we set up a new TikTok account for an imaginary teenager, using a fake name and date of birth.

At first, the 18-year-old’s account was shown a mixture of material including comedy clips, dog videos and discussions about men’s mental health. But after watching videos aimed at male users – including a clip from the Alpha Blokes podcast and a clip of a TikTokker discussing how men “don’t talk about their feelings” – the algorithm began suggesting more content that appeared to be tailored for men.

Without “liking” or searching for any content proactively, the suggestions included videos of Andrew Tate, including one from a copycat account using Tate’s name and picture captioned the “harsh reality of men”, which appeared to blame feminism for making men miserable, adding that the “majority of men have no money, no power, no sex from their wife”, and that their lives “suck”. After watching two of his videos we were recommended more, including clips of him expressing misogynistic views.

The next time the account was opened, the first four posts were by Tate, from four different accounts. The algorithm also suggested videos from Dr Jordan