Armstrong: How TikTok tricked me

In January 2019, then-Sen. Kamala Harris launched her bid for president. I instantly tuned her out. My dismissal wasn’t rooted in disagreement over her policy positions. I couldn’t stomach the idea of her being president because I was sick with misinformation.
See, in 2018, rumors emerged that, from 2004 to 2010, when Harris served as San Francisco district attorney, she unjustly jailed thousands of Black men for petty marijuana charges. These rumors were reinforced by several TikTok videos that spread like food poisoning. With a few clicks of a like and share button, I became an active agent in spewing the misinformation.
By December 2020, Harris ended her presidential bid, citing an inability to gain traction. I would imagine the rumors and videos played a big role in her inability to gain the support she needed.
The truth is Harris did not jail thousands of Black men. According to a fact-check by the San Jose Mercury News, Harris oversaw 1,956 marijuana convictions as DA. Those included misdemeanor and felony cases for possession, cultivation and sale. Not all of them included jail time. And not all of them were Black men. TikTok had it wrong.
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A 90-second video of misinformation tricked me, and I’m not the only one. Our societal trend of using TikTok and other social media as a main source of news is sickening and dividing us, and endangering our democracy.
A study from Pew Research Center revealed that more than half of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get news from social media. About half of TikTok users (52%) say they regularly get news on the site, up from 22% in 2020.
The problem is that it’s very difficult to contextualize any policy stance in a 90-second video. These videos are catered to our own individual preferences and play into what is familiar to us. But just because something is familiar to the truth doesn’t make it truth.
My prejudgment was based on my context of the unjust relationship between the American justice system and Black men. That context led me to consume what was before me without questioning its validity.
As a society, we’ve gotten too complacent and have been handicapped by the convenience of information. As a result, we are susceptible to accepting what we hear and see at face value as long as it seems familiar. The convenience of consuming information at our fingertips has created greater opportunity for us to feed on falsehoods that fuel division. Our tablets have become tables set before us with substance created to our preference. The daily consumption of tidbits is making us ill-informed and suppressing our hunger for truth.
If misinformation in the form of videos and easy-to-share posts are our entrée, then division among us will be our dessert.
It’s not our differences that are widening the wedge between us, it’s our diet. Social media promotes polarizing wedge issues that are tantalizing to consume.
Starlet Ramirez, a West Dallas mom of two daughters, summarized it best by saying “nothing is 100% accurate. Everyone adds their 2 cents even if it’s just in the tone it’s delivered.”
A good part of social media’s profitability depends on user engagement and targeted advertising. Hot topics that draw clear contrasts are profitable. Items that can grab users’ attention the quickest and result in the most likes and shares have become the priority. Division is profitable on platforms like TikTok. As my grandma would say, “Everything that is good to you, isn’t good for you.”
The more we consume a diet of difference, the greater the divide. The middle of America is becoming thin because we’re getting fat on disagreements.
I’m in no way suggesting a complete nullification of all information seen on social media. What I am suggesting is that social media should be the appetizer that piques our interest, the small taste that awakens our taste buds for meatier fare.
We must reject the misinformation that placates to the extreme right and left because the result of such is no benefit to the whole.
Who is enjoying the dessert of our division? Countries that are waiting to capitalize on America being less unified.
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have revealed that the Russian government conducted electoral interference during the 2016 elections with a purpose of increasing the political and social discord in the United States.
No wonder former President Barack Obama said the internet and social media platforms are a threat to our democracy.
Trust in the United States government is near all-time lows. Unchecked lies are at all-time highs. Tidbits of information consumed on social media are a real danger to our democracy and a threat to the lasting threads of decency. Falsehoods and half-truths fuel the notions that there is more that divides us than unifies us, and that our differences must be detrimental.
Where we can’t stop the lies, we can refuse to carry them. It is our responsibility to control our diet by pushing back the plates of half-truths and ensuring that, in the age of information, we are consuming that which is right, pure and true. That means looking deeper than the surface, checking sources, reading widely and thinking critically.
Be an informed participant this election season. Don’t be satisfied with the morsels of hearsay and quick-see like I was in 2019. Seek to be fed from the table of truth that’s available to all who approach. You might realize that the person sitting next to you isn’t as different as you think.
Part of our opinion series The American Middle, this essay encourages careful news consumption, especially from social media.
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