How to watch TikTok without the \u2018For You\u2019 recommendations bengrosser.comTikTok\u2019s algorithm is often scarily accurate to our interests. It\u2019s like it can read our minds, and that also means it\u2019s incredibly addictive, making it possible to scroll through for hours on end. Jokes are often made on the platform about how the algorithm works. TikTokers have made videos demonstrating how if you interact with a video on one theme, there are paths towards other sides of TikTok that you previously never knew about. The algorithm is expertly tailored to your political viewpoints, interests, nationality, and even sexuality. But, have you ever wondered what the app\u2019s home page would look like without the algorithm? It\u2019s now possible to see a completely uncurated view of the app with a new tool created by tech-wizard Benjamin Grosser. Benjamin has created an \u201cautomated confusion system\u201d tool called Not For You. He says it is \u201cdesigned to mislead TikTok\u2019s video recommendation algorithm, making it possible to see how TikTok feels when it\u2019s no longer made \u2018for you.\u2019\u201d How does it work? \u201cNot For You\u201d finds the other sides of TikTok you wouldn\u2019t normally watch by clicking on videos and hashtags to find all the other nooks and crannies. Benjamin says the system is designed to \u201creveal those videos its content moderators suppress.\u201d He adds that its purpose is to make the app less addictive, and to \u201csteer users away from feeling like the best path to platform success is through mimicry and conformity.\u201d \u201cNot For You aims to defuse the filter bubbles produced by algorithmic feeds and the risks such feeds pose for targeted disinformation and voter manipulation.\u201d How to use the tool You can run the tool by downloading the browser extension on Firefox or Chrome for OS. – Open up TikTok\u2019s \u201cFor You\u201d page on your browser, and the tool should automatically start once you begin watching videos. On Firefox you\u2019ll need to enable media autoplay. – The tool\u2019s creator recommends creating a test account, warning that the app\u2019s bot detectors could place your account in \u201cTikTok Jail\u201d for a matter of hours or days. He also suggests only running the extension for an hour or so a day – To see how the tool works in real-time, you can watch the text reporting output, by opening a \u201cconsole\u201d using Option+\u2318+K (use J for Chrome), or Shift+CTRL+J (on Windows\/Linux) – To stop the extension from running, close the tab with TikTok, or click the #nfy icon in the extensions area and switch the \u2018Yes\u2019 to \u2019No\u2019 under \u2018Confuse TikTok?\u2019 – Ben Grosser describes himself as an artist focusing on the cultural, social, and political effects of software. His other projects include \u201cInstagram Demetricator\u201d which hides every like, view and follower count on the platform, and \u201cGo Rando\u201d which changes every \u201clike\u201d you use on Facebook to a random reaction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to watch TikTok without the \u2018For You\u2019 recommendations bengrosser.comTikTok\u2019s algorithm is often scarily accurate to our interests. It\u2019s like it can read our minds, and that also means it\u2019s incredibly addictive, making it possible to scroll through for hours on end. Jokes are often made on the platform about how the algorithm works. TikTokers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}