A new report from Media Matters For America has found popular social media platform, TikTok, is promoting content that is “blatantly anti-LGBTQ+”, some of which encourages targeted violence.
To test TikTok’s algorithm, researchers tracked which videos were recommended after watching anti-LGBTQ+ content, finding that their “For You” pages featured an increasing amount of hostile videos the more the user engaged with said content.Anti-LGBTQ+ content included videos that contained homophobic and transphobic slurs, among ones that actively encouraged violence against LGBTQ+ people.
Other videos requested “only homophobic ppl follow me”, and some encouraged users to burn the LGBTQ+ Pride flag. TikTok has also been accused of making pro-LGBTQ+.