Using a comprehensive dataset of over 160,000 public TikTok accounts and more than 16 million videos, this study indicates a notable increase in political TikTok video content from 2019 to 2023, with a peak around the 2020 US presidential election. The network analysis reveals distinct clusters of politically homogeneous networks or “political echo chambers” where users were exposed to attitude-consistent political TikTok content. Furthermore, through digital trace data, we found that users with strong political views and positive social feedback are more likely to share their political opinions on the platform. This research emphasizes TikTok’s growing importance as a hub for political engagement, as well as its potential polarization effects. The open-source datasets and methodological tools developed in this study offer valuable resources for future research on TikTok’s role in political communication.

中文翻译：

---

TikTok 的政治格局：审视回音室和政治表达动态

这项研究使用超过 160,000 个公共 TikTok 帐户和超过 1600 万个视频的综合数据集，表明从 2019 年到 2023 年，政治 TikTok 视频内容显着增加，在 2020 年美国总统大选前后达到顶峰。网络分析揭示了政治同质网络或 “政治回音室 ”的不同集群，在这些网络中，用户接触到态度一致的政治 TikTok 内容。此外，通过数字追踪数据，我们发现具有强烈政治观点和积极社会反馈的用户更有可能在平台上分享他们的政治观点。这项研究强调了 TikTok 作为政治参与中心日益增长的重要性，以及其潜在的两极分化效应。本研究中开发的开源数据集和方法工具为未来研究 TikTok 在政治传播中的作用提供了宝贵的资源。