According to research published by NewsGuard on Wednesday (September 14), misinformation about TikTok has reached alarming levels, especially as the app is increasingly used by teenagers as a search engine.
The organization conducted a survey in early September on a range of hot topics, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Covid vaccines, and found that 20% of the resulting videos contained false or misleading information. He highlights a video of a young woman revealing her recipe for a “A medicine that can cure everything”hydroxychloroquine, a controversial treatment that has proven ineffective against Covid.
According to NewsGuard: “TikTok toxicity is now a significant threat as Google research shows that TikTok is increasingly being used by young people (…) to find information.”. “In 2021, TikTok overtakes Google to become the world’s most popular website, according to Cloudflare.”A company specializing in Internet infrastructure and services is adding a company specializing in information site evaluation tools.
“Offensive expressions”.
In general, NewsGuard researchers ensure that even search results that do not contain misinformation “Often more divisive than Google”. They cite offensive language on numerous videos about the American election.
“Our policy makes it clear that we do not allow harmful misinformation, including medical misinformation, and we remove content from the platform.”, – responded the spokesperson of TikTok, who was contacted by AFP. The appendix also believes the study’s methodology is flawed because it draws conclusions from limited research.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.