TikTok 'For You' Page Is 'A Runaway Train' For Users: U Of MN Study

MINNEAPOLIS — A study published by researchers from the University of Minnesota finds that TikTok's algorithm can be "a runaway train" for users and their mental health.

Specifically, TikTok's "For You" page — which curates and serves up content the social media platform thinks users will engage with — often "displays harmful content that participants feel they cannot escape."

"We argue that TikTok and the FYP are a runaway train, a metaphor where users are along for the algorithmic ride with little ability to affect what the train is doing," write authors Ashlee Milton, Leah Ajmani, Michael Ann DeVito, and Stevie Chancellor.

"The train takes them to places they may not themselves want to be about their own past experiences and traumatic events, yet they cannot stop seeing it without a complete cessation of app use (which many are unwilling to do)."

The study does not discount the positive features of TikTok, including the sharing of mental health information and resources that provide therapeutic benefits for users. Users also cite feeling like they are

One of the 16 teens interviewed cited their enjoyment of a psychologist on TikTok who shares real coping strategies and proven therapy techniques.

But a TiKTok user may be just as likely to encounter harmful content or misinformation on mental health topics. Research on ADHD content — which is very popular on TikTok — found that half of the content was "misleading."

As a result of their findings, the authors argue the platform should institute guardrails and alter the algorithm "to mitigate algorithmic harms."

Read the entire study here.