Dance videos, viral pranks, adorable pets, beauty tutorials and 60-second recipes. A scroll through TikTok’s “For You” page offers a steady stream of strange and delightful content that can feel both chaotic and somehow perfectly suited to your tastes.
But how exactly does TikTok’s algorithm decide what to serve up, and why do you get that eerie feeling it knows you better than you know yourself?
TikTok’s algorithm is famously effective, yet hard to study. As part of the Guardian’s special series on the platform’s explosive rise, we tested how the algorithm treats different users. We wondered what would happen if three people – with varying ages, backgrounds and familiarity with the platform – created new accounts and recorded what they saw.
