RU.S. government-related accounts are driving usage of TikTok and increasing engagement on the short-form video platform ahead of the U.S. presidential election, according to a study released Thursday by the nonprofit Brookings Institution.
Russia is increasingly leveraging TikTok to spread the Kremlin's message in both English and Spanish, with state-affiliated accounts posting on the platform far more frequently than they did two years ago, the report said. .
These accounts are also active on other social media platforms, with a larger presence on Telegram and X than on TikTok. However, user engagement on posts, including likes, views and shares, was much higher on TikTok than on Telegram and X, according to the report.
“The use of TikTok highlights the growing but under-realized means by which Russia's state-sponsored intelligence services are reaching new, younger audiences,” it said. The report, written by Valerie, extracted data from the accounts. Mr. Wildshafter is a Fellow in Foreign Policy and its Artificial Intelligence Initiative at Brookings University.
The study notes that most posts focus on other issues, such as the Ukraine war and NATO, rather than U.S. politics. But such articles tend to cover more divisive topics, such as U.S. policy toward Israel and Russia and questions about President Joe Biden's age, according to the Brookings report.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company has weeded out covert influence operations in the past and removed accounts involving 13 networks operating from Russia.
A spokesperson said TikTok also labels state-controlled media accounts and will do so in the future “to further address accounts that attempt to reach communities outside of their home country about current global events and developments.” It said it plans to expand that policy in the coming weeks.
The Brookings report comes after Biden signed legislation last month forcing TikTok's parent company, China-based ByteDance, to sell its platform or face a ban in the United States. Ta. A potential ban is expected to face legal challenges.
