Social Politics: Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube || Tuesday Tea

What do Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok all have in common other than being social media platforms? Politics! This Tuesday Tea dives into social politics and why these algorithms are important to your day to day life.

Wall Street, Facebook, and Social Politics

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook ignores the fact that algorithms sway people towards one political party over another.

Facebook is still treading water for following the site’s controversial political ad policy, claiming its algorithms quote “exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.” 

So, this means the more comments a post receives, the chances increase that it appears on more feeds.

Learn how that algorithm works in this episode of  The AdCast with Eric Elliott. 

YouTube Algorithms and Social Politics

Meanwhile, YouTube is also facing some performance issues of its own. 

The Verge spills that YouTube automatically removes spam and offensive comments criticizing the Chinese Community Party.

This makes YouTube appear to be politically biased.

The issue stems from China blocking YouTube in the country, so censorship rules don’t really apply. 

YouTube claims they rely on more automated filters thanks to COVID-19.

TikTok and Disney Do the Political Dance

Then, on May 18th, Disney announces its CEO, Kevin Myer, is going to Byte Dance, the parent company of TikTok, as the VP of Product and Strategy.

This plays out as TikTok wanting to bring on someone who can ramp up the popular app’s algorithm to push out Facebook and Instagram. 

Is this a (Disney) PLUS?

Mr. Myer plays an integral role in Disney Plus’s success. 

The first thought of a Disney CEO heading to TikTok is that Disney wants to acquire the platform for themselves. 

Byte Dance is a Chinese mogul known for some of the techiest of tech companies in Asia, with AI surpassing Amazon. 

Kevin Myer joins former executives from Microsoft, Warner Music, Facebook, and  YouTube at Byte Dance.

The real tea is that this may be TikTok’s way of dancing into politics.

With YouTube allegedly having a filter blocking certain Chinese phrases, accusations are sparking that the Chinese government may be interfering with the web privacy of other countries’ user data, including the U.S.

This may be a strategy by Disney or it is a   political ambassadorship by Byte Dance who is trying to virtually extend an olive branch.

Only when the steam clears from this tea will the truth be revealed.