The dangers of underestimating TikTok, or why Trump might have been right (for all the wrong reasons)

Abstract

TikTok has stormed into the social media realm with unique dexterity in engineering virality, to which users contribute both passively and actively through sophisticated yet accessible built-in editing tools. The research corroborates recent media uproar around the platform’s tendency to bring political discussions away from constructive, nuanced debate and into the sphere of entertainment, antagonism, or mockery. With a focus on the presence of the far right on Spanish TikTok, the study finds a clear overrepresentation of male right-wing content creators and party leaders on the platform, who seem to significantly set the tone for the interactions taking place online. The paper ends with possible avenues for further academic research on the reasons behind these imbalances, and a few recommendations aimed at both the platform and European policymakers stressing why it is imperative that they are tackled with urgency.