Statistics make it very clear young people overwhelmingly support Palestine over the people of Israel. This is a marked departure from what older Americans believe who stand with Israel in high numbers. Why the discrepancy? One man thinks he has the answer.
The TikTok War: Why High School & College Kids Are Getting The Wrong Information about Hamas & Israel
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
I spent the weekend trying to reverse engineer the TikTok algorithm, as I am convinced this is the reason we're losing the information war with high school & college students.
🚩One red flag was seeing San Francisco high school students who were aggressively anti-Israel and asking myself where they were getting news.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
Their protests happened right after the fake @nytimes headline that accused Israel of the hospital bomb.https://t.co/9CwjxSMPlu
🚩The bigger red flag was seeing 51% of Americans ages 18-24 believe Hamas (terrorists who raped & murdered innocent women & children) believe Hamas was justified. Wtf.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
My high school classmates who lived through 9/11 would have never believed this.https://t.co/B7xXGGSQ5Z
Why do high school students in San Francisco hate Israel so much?
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
I'd assume very few of them have been to Israel, let alone have a fully formed view of a multi-generation conflict.
They're 16 years old and live in California. Let's be serious for a minute.
For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
TikTok is the #1 search engine for more than half of Gen Z.
TikTok is the primary news source for many younger demos & while we have justifiable concerns about The New York Times & mainstream media, this has become a TikTok war.
What I discovered through data and user testing is extremely concerning & I believe requires more attention, as this is an actual national security issue.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
When I engaged with one post on TikTok supporting opposing views, my entire feed became aggressively anti-Israel. It was as if I was placed in an AB test variant and was told to see this war with Israel being the evil side.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
As I looked at the tactics and data, I saw that much of TikTok is being controlled by anti-Israel bot farms, paid commenters/likers/sharers — much of which is paid for by Hamas supporting organizations. pic.twitter.com/NdcDvfiw4U
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
I then looked at the data and saw that Israel is losing the TikTok war by a longshot.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
As an example, the top hashtag is 3b views for Palestine versus 200m views for Israel.
If you look at other hashtags, it is clear that Israel has a distribution issue. pic.twitter.com/vrTomLYjSw
Because the TikTok narrative is now so anti-Israel, the engagement flywheel encourages creators to support that narrative because it’s getting the most attention and creating anti-Israel content helps them increase their following.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
While we are spreading our perspectives on Twitter, we need to figure out a way to balance out the narrative on TikTok otherwise I worry we will fall too far behind with high school and college kids — and this is where they get their news.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
I’m still researching — and if anybody with a data background wants to join, please let me know.
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) October 26, 2023
I have never been a "social media is bad" person, but high school/college students are literally our future & we're on the brink of a potential global war.
So maybe this matters.
This is why it is so important for parents and others with influence over young people to balance out the propaganda with truth.
I noticed this, too. I got so fed up with tiktok showing the same crying children that I put the app down for several days
— Dennis (@dennissanche) October 26, 2023
1000%
— Moses Kagan (@moseskagan) October 26, 2023
Would we have allowed the USSR to own MTV in 1985?
I usually have dog videos, beauty routine and Tech interviews, but now it is news and pro Hamas content.
— Alona Kotliar (@alyonakotlyar) October 26, 2023
Others are also noting changes in what is offered on their own 'For You' pages, curated content suggested by Tik Tok.
“When I engaged with one post on TikTok supporting opposing views, my entire feed became…” this is the clincher. If algorithms are optimized for grabbing attention (vs. education), then it’s easier to understand why they’re optimized for polarization. Major risk for our youth. https://t.co/fxkI9eyYM2
— scott belsky (@scottbelsky) October 26, 2023
The CCP is doing significant damage to our society via TikTok. They aren’t just stealing our data, they are actively misinforming and manipulating the next generation. https://t.co/X7MCwsNryF
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 26, 2023
Parents must talk to their kids and control access to this app if we have a chance to ensure young people get accurate information about topics, rather than just propaganda.
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