An increasing number of young people get their news from the social media platform, which is dominated by pro-Palestinian content and misinformation about Israel
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Last week, with bipartisan support, the United States House of Representatives voted to force the sale of TikTok, the video-sharing platform owned by ByteDance, a company under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party, to non-Chinese owners, or face a ban in the U.S.
The loss of TikTok would have little to no impact on the lives of most mature Americans. But TikTok users are overwhelmingly young, and many are addicted to the platform for a spectrum of reasons — including, for many influencers and small businesses, their own financial benefit.
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It is widely acknowledged that TikTok is a powerful force in shaping adolescent users’ self-perceptions and beliefs. The platform’s influence has been plausibly linked to devastating consequences for individuals, but also to the “mass formation” of unhealthy cultural trends.
TikTok’s algorithm is designed in such a way that the more people use it, the more focused, and often extreme, the content in their feeds tends to become.
New York teenager Chase Nasco threw himself in front of a train two years ago. His parents believe his despair was linked to TikTok bombarding him with........