Part of me wonders though if TikTok is helpful in understanding recommendation algorithms and curation, because it’s so blatant. I notice that, especially with younger users, there’s a total understanding that what they’re seeing is not occurring naturally, but is the result of computational choices being made for them.

It is alleged that social media fuels polarization, exploits human weaknesses and insecurities, and creates echo chambers where everyone gets their own slice of reality, eroding the public sphere and the understanding of common facts. And, worse still, this is all done intentionally in a relentless pursuit of profit.

Social media algorithms identify our politics and then shepherd us into a hermetically sealed bubble, framing our worldview through a window of rage and extremism.

I don’t think that Trump won “because of” TikTok in any new sense beyond the now-obvious fact that social media is a necessary condition to his success. But I suspect that social media, as it transforms and matures, shapes voters in ways it will take a long time to pick up on. Who is the “TikTok electorate”? How do its users relate to the world,

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