The attempt to divine TikTok’s algorithm policies by comparing hashtag behavior with Instagram is not particularly objective. For example, they find that pro-Ukraine and critical-of-China tags are more common on Instagram than on TikTok, and conclude that the topics must be suppressed on TikTok. But one might also consider whether they are being amplified on Instagram!
In fact, there is an interesting comparison to be made, on the basis of their data, that they don’t make. Instagram is banned in China, and has far more tags critical of China. Meanwhile, they observe that TikTok is full of tags like #StandWIthKashmir that scarcely exist on Instagram. But what they don’t mention is that TikTok is banned in India, while Instagram is not.
How a social media site works, what considerations affect policy (e.g. politics of its home country, laws of other jurisdictions), and what factors other than policy affect hashtag frequency (e.g. user demographics like age and nation) - their model of all this is very poor and scarcely articulated; and they do not, at all, investigate Instagram from that perspective.
The attempt to divine TikTok’s algorithm policies by comparing hashtag behavior with Instagram is not particularly objective. For example, they find that pro-Ukraine and critical-of-China tags are more common on Instagram than on TikTok, and conclude that the topics must be suppressed on TikTok. But one might also consider whether they are being amplified on Instagram!
In fact, there is an interesting comparison to be made, on the basis of their data, that they don’t make. Instagram is banned in China, and has far more tags critical of China. Meanwhile, they observe that TikTok is full of tags like #StandWIthKashmir that scarcely exist on Instagram. But what they don’t mention is that TikTok is banned in India, while Instagram is not.
How a social media site works, what considerations affect policy (e.g. politics of its home country, laws of other jurisdictions), and what factors other than policy affect hashtag frequency (e.g. user demographics like age and nation) - their model of all this is very poor and scarcely articulated; and they do not, at all, investigate Instagram from that perspective.