TikTok has confirmed that staff can manually promote specific videos on the platform to ensure a certain number of video views.

First reported by Forbes, TikTok has since confirmed that some of its employees can promote videos to “introduce celebrities and aspiring developers to the TikTok community.”

This is achieved via a so-called “heat” button, which bypasses the algorithm designed to control the TikTok experience.

Backend manipulation can promote virality

According to the Forbes investigation, six current and former employees of TikTok and its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, employees in the United States, can artificially extend the reach of certain videos.

In a “MINT Heating Playbook,” an internal document acquired by Forbes, ByteDance explained, “The heating feature refers to boosting videos in the For You feed through operational interventions to achieve a certain number of video views.”

This contradicts TikTok’s previous claim that its recommendation feed works by using an algorithm to curate a personalized feed based on each user’s interests.

Heating reportedly used to encourage partnerships

According to Forbes sources, this process builds business relationships and attracts influencers and brands.

“We’re promoting some videos to diversify the content experience and introduce celebrities and aspiring creators to the TikTok community,” Jamie Favazza, spokesperson for TikTok, told Forbes. “Few US-based individuals have the ability to approve content for US advertising, and that content accounts for approximately 0.002% of videos in For You feeds.”

However, according to the MINT doc, heated videos account for around 1-2% of daily video views.

View manipulation is a fairly common practice

According to Brent Csutoras, a digital marketing expert and co-founder and managing partner of Alpha Brand Media, the parent company of Search Engine Journal, this type of behind-the-scenes manipulation is more common than platforms let on — and it has often resulted in abuse.

“While it’s not uncommon for social media platforms to leverage employee actions, allow certain “power users” to have more influence, or even force content to be integrated into your feeds (whether through ads, enforced Consequences or algorithmic factors), TikTok has long been a company that seems to ignore the impact that these decisions have on their users’ trust, especially when they are made behind closed doors and without explanation,” Csutoras said.

“In any scenario where an individual or group of people can take action that impacts the visibility of content on a platform, be it social media or search engines, we have seen strong resistance and abuse from users.”

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