New Study Could Show How TikTok’s Algorithm Affects Youth Mental Health

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court to defend his company from accusations that social media harms children.

A lawsuit filed by a 20-year-old plaintiff alleges Instagram and other social media apps are designed to make young users addicted to their platforms.

Meanwhile, social media experts believe the algorithms that drive content on these platforms play a role in hooking users and keeping them scrolling for extensive periods of time.

A new study led by Georgia Tech might confirm this suspicion.

Using recently acquired data from more than 10,000 adolescent users, Munmun De Choudhury will audit TikTok’s recommendation algorithm and study its impact on young people’s behavior and mental health.

De Choudhury is leading a multi-institutional research team on a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the Huo Family Foundation.