The TikTok effect: how the app shaped political discourse in Finnish European elections

As part of the CrossOver Finland project, CheckFirst and Faktabaari monitored TikTok's algorithmic behavior toward accounts with no browsing history from December through July 2024, spanning the run-up to the European Parliament elections, alongside public dashboards tracking findings throughout the period.

The research found TikTok's search-suggestion feature could be manipulated relatively easily through automated or infrequent hashtag use, and that the platform's recommendation algorithm frequently surfaced content reinforcing negative stereotypes about women and minorities — searches involving female politicians, including former PM Sanna Marin, returned sexualized material. Only about two-thirds of the most-viewed election-related videos carried TikTok's official election labels, pointing to inconsistent enforcement of its election-integrity measures, despite 47% of Finnish 18–24 year-olds using the app and roughly a third of European election candidates campaigning on it.

The authors recommend TikTok curb toxic content about women and minorities in line with moderation standards used elsewhere, and improve election-information and voting-reminder features to match competing platforms.