When Adriana Lopez found out that she was pregnant, one of the first places she turned was TikTok.
Immediately, she began to search for posts about morning sickness and other side effects, Lopez recalls. This was the Stockton, California resident’s first pregnancy, and she wanted to be prepared.
But the app soon began pushing her in a direction that made her uncomfortable. During her first trimester, she said, her “For You” page — the TikTok feed where the app’s seemingly psychic algorithm curates an ever-more-personalized stream of videos — filled up with videos about miscarriages. By her second trimester, it had switched over to clips about genetic disorders and stillbirths.
