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Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan more likely to agree with pro-China narratives, study finds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025
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This is a case where you have to be careful about cause-effect order. I assume that Tiwanese people that are heavily opposed to China are more likely to avoid tiktok. But of course, it's been shown that tiktok tends to show more pro-China "content" as well, and likely influences the opinions of its users.
TikTok is the cause in other parts of the world at least. It has been washing the brains of friends and family for many years now. It‘s odd how the most apolitical people suddenly drop pro Chinese talking points at a gathering.
But what‘s worse is how it radicalizes young adults and teenagers and pushes them to the far right. Dictatorship suddenly becomes freedom and democracy becomes a prison to them. It‘s well documented how much anti-democratic content the platform is pushing aggressively and that‘s extremely beneficial for China.
I expect it‘s no different in Taiwan.
It’s not just that, it’s also culture takeover. A lot of young people in Taiwan speak and think like mainland Chinese now.
Like you said, it’s not new information that Tik Tok hides posts on certain topics and promotes posts on other topics though, so it isn’t surprising either way. I’ll add that they do it with more than just pro-China content
I'm recon its a bit of both tbh.