Kerim Yasar
Emily Baker-WhiteOur latest: Employees at TikTok and ByteDance have access to a secret back-end button that can make any video go viral, immediately pushing it to more viewers. The practice, which TikTok has never disclosed, is known internally as “heating.”
According to sources and docs, TikTok employees have used heating to woo creators and celebrities onto the platform, and to “push important information” to users. But it hasn’t always been clear to employees what’s eligible for heating and what isn’t.
This suggests TikTok has used heating to benefit some influencers and brands — those with whom TikTok has sought business partnerships — at the expense of others with whom it has not. But there’s no transparency, so we don’t know who’s been affected.
Also, we asked TikTok and ByteDance whether employees in China, or employees anywhere, have ever heated content produced by the Chinese government or Chinese state media. They didn’t answer the question.
Fábio Costa 🐇🕐🎩☕@ebakerwhite can I question something here? What would be the reaction for a, let us say, Silicon Valley company (so, an USian company) had some heat button and use them to push things on an USian agenda?
@fabiocosta0305 I think a lot of creators and brands would want to know how and when such a button is being used!
I don't think heating is bad per se, but I do think platforms should be more transparent about how and why they're promoting certain pieces of content.
@ebakerwhite on this I agree
Rosanita@ebakerwhite @fabiocosta0305 It could be though. Heat button accounts are probably still included in rankings , which are based on gifted coins. Top 3 spots get cash bonuses. To compete for rankings via the FYP, some creators will do lives, exploit Syrian children in refugee camps, offering to show pics of a dead baby, etc & there’s a thing with protected accounts (under NDAs) that can’t be mass reported. There’s a whole subreddit and it’s wild.
Tagomago@ebakerwhite @fabiocosta0305 Ads are nowadays mostly bad per se, imo. They tend not to be just informative, but to abuse people’s emotions to their advantage, usually on the edge of truth and lies to not get sued. Undisclosed ads are even worse, that’s why they are illegal, at least in some countries.
segv11@fabiocosta0305 @ebakerwhite It also depends whether the US would be asking for a public service announcement to the US or whether the US was asking to send a message to China.
The former isn't a major issue unless the message is manipulative or political, but targeting the Chinese people with tailored propaganda would be disturbing. It would be major news. That's why we need answers here, since the US is watching unchecked content streaming direct from China.
We're Not In Kansas Anymore
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴
Peter Brown@ebakerwhite all the more reason for sticking with Mastodon.
@ebakerwhite So how does this correlate to the rankings and cash system for creators?
Jeff Jarvis@ebakerwhite
But isn't that just like a magazine cover, or a newspaper front page, or a department-store window, or a restaurant's specials, or Forbes opening its CMS to advertisers for guaranteed play? Recommendation and promotion are acts of choice that themselves are acts of speech. The former has value for the user, the latter for the company, but both are prevalent throughout the consumer economy, no?
But isn't that just like a magazine cover, or a newspaper front page, or a department-store window, or a restaurant's specials, or Forbes opening its CMS to advertisers for guaranteed play? Recommendation and promotion are acts of choice that themselves are acts of speech. The former has value for the user, the latter for the company, but both are prevalent throughout the consumer economy, no?
(1) This isn't ad space for sale to anyone. It's a discretionary thing that TikTok does and has not been open about.
(2) I do think there's a difference between a platform applying a set of recommendations criteria across all content (your standard recs algo) and individuals at the platform making discretionary choices about what to boost (heating). The latter seems far more likely to produce arbitrariness, abuse TT's market power, or enable political hijinks & favors to friends.
Ian Fogg@ebakerwhite @jeffjarvis Surely if TikTok has a back door staff-controlled “heating" button to make posts go viral it simply means TikTok’s recommendation engine isn't as good as everyone thought (or in the US, feared) ?
@ebakerwhite
Thanks for the response.
As to your second, point, what is the difference in the editor of Forbes deciding what to place atop the home page? I'll argue that we need more recommendation on the net.
Thanks for the response.
As to your second, point, what is the difference in the editor of Forbes deciding what to place atop the home page? I'll argue that we need more recommendation on the net.
I agree that recs, including by platforms, can be a force for good. It turns out people are better at curating accurate, contextualized information than algos are.
But platforms should be transparent about how content is recommended, and on what basis. If humans are choosing to boost something, users shouldn't think the post went "organically" viral.
And the humans should stand by their choices — that's how to guard against allegations of arbitrariness and bias.
@ebakerwhite
I don't disagree but you are holding the platforms to a different standard than media themselves. Mind you, I contend that the platforms are not media -- so that might well be fair -- but we should keep in mind that our editorial decisions and meetings in media are themselves black boxes.
I don't disagree but you are holding the platforms to a different standard than media themselves. Mind you, I contend that the platforms are not media -- so that might well be fair -- but we should keep in mind that our editorial decisions and meetings in media are themselves black boxes.
Erik Sherman 
@ebakerwhite Good piece.
SumJackass@ebakerwhite Isn't this a logical requirement to operate behind the Chinese firewall?
toxtethogrady@ebakerwhite And who do they decide to "heat" and why? Nothing to see here, move along...
Derek Brauders@ebakerwhite certainly sounds like sharp practice, at best. Could easily be a lot more insidious. " Heating" especially when done behind the scenes is not a good look for TikTok.
#TikToks #viral
#TikToks #viral
Truth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦@ebakerwhite This is a good tool for those who would commit a cyber psyops attack. "Heating" selected conspiracies like Q and promoting propaganda are powerful social media weapons.
h2500@Savvyhomestead @ebakerwhite yeah! Imagine the owner of such a place was a libertarian alt-right idol with a saviour-complex!
gavinisdie 
@ebakerwhite I can't even say anything I'm just frustrated at this
Viss@ebakerwhite wasnt there a black mirror episode about this?
David Gerhart@ebakerwhite This is simply more evidence that content creators are serfs in the economic feudalism that is corporate social media. The overlords decide. Putting a thumb on the scale disrupts the ecology in favor of earnings for shareholders. No it's not fair, and yes content creators need to stop slouching where their best interests are concerned. Leave. Now. Move to #Mastodon
ニルス・スキニール@ebakerwhite
Theoretically not any worse than the algorithms that are used elsewhere.
However, really subject to bribery and other tactics. Eg. an influencer could offer inducements to heat stuff and get more views and more money.
Theoretically not any worse than the algorithms that are used elsewhere.
However, really subject to bribery and other tactics. Eg. an influencer could offer inducements to heat stuff and get more views and more money.
#Bytedance's #TikTok loads the dice.
Time for #regulators in the @[email protected] and the #US (#FCC, etc.) to take a much closer look.
@ebakerwhite the issue is that it is not transparent. It would be one thing if it showed up as ‘staff pick’ in your feed but sounds like that’s not the case. The illusion that algorithms filter what you like is maintained. If it was labeled, people would feel advertised to. They’d ask for a config to turn it off. They would turn it off. It’s not the same being curated to by an algorithm or by a company. Even though in reality I wonder how much the difference actually is.
Mark Tomczak@ebakerwhite 🎵I heard there was a secret file...
Lets admins choose what video's viral
But you don't really care for TikTok do ya?🎵
Lets admins choose what video's viral
But you don't really care for TikTok do ya?🎵
Jeff Horwitz@ebakerwhite Can you imagine how hellish this is going to make life for everyone on their partnerships team? I'm unaware of Meta ever doing this, and that alone would be a good enough reason why...
@Jhorwitzz Yeah, that’s super real. Hopefully the company can mitigate it by giving creators and partners (and its own employees!) more clarity about when and how heating has been used in the past, and when/how it will be allowed to be used in the future…
John Shirley@ebakerwhite And who on TikTok staff is getting secret payments for doing that?
Phillip Hallam-Baker@ebakerwhite There is a valid reason for having a ‘heating’ button: when you know your algorithm isn’t as hot as folk imagine.
There are more bad reasons though and once you create it…
I have been noodling on an architecture where the curation is taking place largely in the client.
So if Musk is trying to force fascist crap on Timmy feed, my client ignores it.