TikTok algorithm recommends twice as much hard-right content ahead of Polish election
New accounts were served roughly twice as much hard-right content as other political content ahead of Poland's presidential election.
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Ahead of the runoff round of Poland's presidential election, Global Witness created TikTok accounts for three test users of different ages, each signalling equal interest in both leading candidates, and tracked what the platform's For You page algorithm then recommended to them.
The test found TikTok's algorithm fed the politically balanced test accounts roughly twice as much far-right and nationalist-right content as centrist and left-wing content, and specifically served about five times more content supporting nationalist-right candidate Karol Nawrocki than centrist candidate Rafał Trzaskowski — despite Trzaskowski's official account having more followers and likes than his opponent's.
Global Witness situated the finding within a pattern of similar tests it had previously run around elections in Germany and Romania, all pointing to TikTok's algorithm skewing recommendations toward far-right content for new, undecided users. TikTok rejected the findings, citing the small number of test accounts (three to nine) and short observation windows (10–20 minutes per session) as methodological flaws undermining the conclusions.
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