While children in China get access to a more educational TikTok, in the rest of the world content promoted by the network can alter the brain, an experiment shows. “We are in a cognitive war”

A team from the pan-European television network Euronews, supported by specialists from various professions, investigated what is the difference between the TikTok content you have access to in China and the one you have access to in the rest of the world.

• A 2019 Harris Poll of nearly 3,000 children in the US, UK and China asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. In the US, the most popular answer was “influencer”, while in China it was “astronaut”.

Two social media apps have been launched within a year of each other by the same Beijing-based tech company: ByteDance. In 2016, Douyin, an app for the Chinese market, was launched. A year later, the company launched the international version of the app, TikTok.

Although Douyin and TikTok have the same logo, the same structure and the same digital architecture, users have completely different experiences, according to an analysis by Euronews.com, taken over by its Romanian affiliate. Moreover, the international version of TikTok is not accessible in China.

An experiment showing the differences

The Cube, a Euronews fact-check team analyzed the difference between the content of the two apps. Using a VPN, he downloaded the Douyin app and created a 13-year-old user profile.

After a few minutes of browsing, the platform appeared to offer mainly educational content, with videos showing simple experiments, such as a clip showing what happens when an egg is dipped in vinegar, as well as English, music or cooking lessons.

Also, the Chinese version of TikTok has a module that allows parents to choose content settings that their children prefer to see. These options help the algorithm customize the recommended feed for users under 14 years of age.

The same test was applied by The Cube to the TikTok app. The version for users under 14 appeared to offer more recreational and entertainment-oriented content than education, including viral dances and humorous clips, some of which could be described as “brain-altering”, according to Euronews.

However, the app also has a “TikTok for Younger Users” mode, which includes stricter privacy settings, limited usage time, and restrictions on comments, messages, and sharing for users under the age of 13.

Also on TikTok, teens over the age of 13 have a stream dedicated to science, technology, engineering and math.

The two apps feature similar content in terms of “adult mode”, but the Chinese version of the app still follows general censorship rules.

China introduced a law in 2021 that forces social media platforms to implement tools that limit use by children. Following its introduction, parent company ByteDance announced a screen usage limit of 40 minutes per day for users under the age of 14, who are also banned from using the app between 10pm and 6am.

“China's strategy is to export what clouds the minds of young people”

The differences between the two versions of the same application were recently commented on by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Emmanuel Macron said in a discussion with readers of La Voix du Nord newspaper that China offers its children a more educational version of the TikTok app, while the version available in Europe is designed to “poison” the minds of young people and “stupid” them.

“Their version of TikTok, because it's a Chinese company, is limited to a set number of hours per day and the content shown to children is entirely educational. China has understood that we are in the middle of a cognitive war,” Macron said on November 19.

The French leader also stated that China's strategy is “to export what clouds the minds of young people, while keeping what makes young people smarter for its own population.”

The theme addressed by President Macron is not new. In an interview in 2022, Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, talked about using apps like TikTok and Douyin. Citing the 2019 Harris Poll, he described the daily limit of 40 minutes of screen time as “almost an acknowledgment that technology is shaping children”.