User practices and perceptions regarding platform workings and matters of privacy on social medium TikTok

These days short-video platform TikTok is one of the most popular social media. While some research has already been done about how specific users use TikTok and how they think about issues such as privacy, a research gap exists between adolescents and older users, with a focus on English-speaking and Scandinavian cultures. To close this gap, this research project looked into young adult TikTok users in the Netherlands, particularly those aged 21-30, through four research questions: (1) How do young adult users in the Netherlands use TikTok in their day-to-day lives? (2) How do they perceive and interpret TikTok’s platform workings? (3) How do they perceive privacy issues surrounding TikTok? And lastly, (4) Do they use specific practices to manage their privacy on TikTok, and if so, how do they do that precisely? To answer these questions, I have conducted twelve qualitative in-depth interviews with active TikTok users aged 21-30 in the Netherlands. Afterward, the transcript data were analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis. The main findings recall that this group of TikTok-using young adults portrays specific ways of usage, of which entertainment and fun is the most significant, alongside gathering knowledge and insights they can use for their benefit, and documenting experiences. When they consume videos, they do so primarily by scrolling through the app and, in some cases, actively searching for content. Furthermore, all participants portray significant levels of TikTok insights into its platform workings, though to varying degrees, ranging from user activity and information collection and usage to quite technical algorithmic processes. The fact that TikTok has an extensive amount of control over its content, and the platform’s lack of transparency regarding data collection and usage, are points of critique that trouble a significant number of users, alongside the fact that the platform is subject to several lawsuits. Moreover, all participants find privacy important and seem rather knowledgeable about ways to protect their privacy on TikTok. Mentioned tactics are denying access to their location, confusing the platform by going against their habits, looking up random content to cloak their actual interests and identity, and keeping a close eye on their followers to keep out strangers. However, not all of them actually use these insights and tactics, or only to some extent. As such, there exist a number of paradoxes, such as the infamous privacy paradox, between what these young adult TikTok users think regarding privacy and what they do to protect it. Forces that seem to enforce this paradox are sentiments of nonchalance, circular reasoning that all social media collect data and therefore it is ‘ok’ and that TikTok cannot possibly be doing anything wrong since they have to follow regulations and are under strict observation by institutions such as privacy watchdogs.