TikTok Finally Explains How the ‘For You’ Algorithm Works | Hacker News Reader

TikTok Finally Explains How the ‘For You’ Algorithm Works

wired.com

5 pointssimplertms2 comments

"algorithm shows it first to a small subset of users. These people may or may not follow the creator already, but TikTok has determined they may be more likely to engage with the video, based on their past behavior. If they respond favorably—say, by sharing the video or watching it in full—TikTok then shows it to more people who it thinks share similar interests. That same process then repeats itself, and if this positive feedback loop happens enough times, the video can go viral. But if the initial group of guinea pigs don’t signal they enjoyed the content, it’s shown to fewer users, limiting its potential reach."

Applying an algorithm to human preferences will necessarily magnify and entrench our likes and suppress our desires. To my mind it accelerates existing social processes.

I've seen an increasing push to place responsibility at the feet of these platforms for the posts that are promoted vs suppressed. Another post the other day conspiratorially suggested instagram promotes partially-topless posts over clothed posts (whereas in all likelihood - it is just what the masses want to see - that post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23548059). I guess it is in a similar vein that we see reports around tiktok discriminating against less attractive people etc.

I'm not sure if there is an easy answer to this but framed another way - Do companies and the algorithms they design need to curb the biases/excesses that are natural/intrinsic to the people that use those platforms? When you speed up the discovery/propogation of human bias - are you morally or socially obliged to create speed-bumps; or is it ok to accentuate the kinks IF they are already present in the social fabric?

I am trying not to be too negative, but if I were to summarize the article: TikTok wants positive PR and describes its algorithms as being 'generic' in an attempt to counter allegations that they have an agenda.

That's pretty much all there is to the article.

The algorithm described is 'the most generic way' I can think of and how pretty much everything starts trending or disappears in the void that is the internet. Content shown to some, it's liked, gets shown to more people, positive feedback loop, that's it. If you found this article interesting: honest(!) question: what is it about it I am not getting?

There is no way to know how it works exactly, it's just PR from TikTok, saying "nothing fishy going on, don't worry"

btw: the cover picture is haunting me; good pick with regards to it being about TikTok

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