HeyJaredUnderstanding TikTok
TikTok, propaganda, and culture in the age of algorithmic recommendation
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 3
- Latest publication
- Sep 29, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Aug 4, 2026
Latest issues
Where Slop Begins (opens the original)
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Hello.You are reading Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus, and I fell for Phil. A Frenchman with a platinum bob, a waxed mustache and a tweed suit. Sometimes he’s at a café with oysters. Then he gets up, stares into the camera, and throws punches at nobody. I thought he was real. He is not (LADbible). Phil is AI-generated, and his bio links to a meme coin that was valued at almost $9 million last week (<a href="https://www.dexerto.com/tiktok/who-is
Postdigital Propaganda (opens the original)
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Hello.You are reading Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? Well, I basically defended my PhD thesis on postdigital propaganda last week. I spent years trying to understand something on TikTok that existing concepts couldn't quite explain. This is what I eventually came up with.Subscribe nowI started this newsletter in July 2020 because I didn’t understand TikTok at all. The For Yo
Disorder (opens the original)
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Hello.You are reading Understanding TikTok. My name is Marcus. I am in Italy. It is way too hot. My teenage nephew is wearing his black Joy Division T-Shirt in the blistering sun. Disorder, the opening track of their 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures provides a perfect backdrop for recent videos on my FYP and current readings on slop.<a class="button primary" href="h
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