Researchers Say TikTok Boosts Pro-Mamdani Content

A new analysis claims China-owned TikTok is not just biased but actively boosts pro-Mamdani content and suppresses material supportive of Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral race — a pattern researchers describe as “algorithmic steering.”

Yehonatan Dodeles, CTO of Spring AI, announced Tuesday that his team’s reverse-engineering of TikTok’s recommendation system shows the platform “systematically boosts pro-Mamdani and anti-Cuomo content,” while “pro-Cuomo content was suppressed,” indicating that TikTok is shaping what voters see during an active election.

In a research report published on Medium, Dodeles explained that his team built an AI model to detect “Excessive Publicity” — videos receiving more exposure than they should based on normal engagement. About 17% of all videos tested showed such artificial amplification, but political content was boosted at triple that rate — 55% of political videos had non-organic promotion.

Within that category, two names dominated: Mamdani and Cuomo.

When the team separated pro- and anti-content, the system found that pro-Mamdani content was boosted above baseline while pro-Cuomo content was suppressed below it — a dynamic Dodeles calls “algorithmic steering,” suggesting intentional shaping rather than incidental bias.

“The algorithm that shapes what we see may also shape what we believe,” Dodeles warned.

The findings come days after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Mamdani, making him the highest-ranking national Democrat to back the self-described socialist, even as Mamdani faces opposition consolidation behind Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

TikTok — owned by Beijing-based ByteDance — has long been flagged by national security officials as a tool of influence. Chinese military theorists have explicitly described future conflict with the U.S. as “information-driven mental warfare,” making the allegation that TikTok boosts pro-Mamdani content in a U.S. election especially consequential.

Sources:

• https://nypost.com/2025/10/22/business/tiktok-boosting-pro-mamdani-content-suppressing-pro-cuomo-clips-ahead-of-nyc-mayoral-election-report/

• https://thepostmillennial.com/tiktok-boosts-mamdani-videos-suppresses-cuomo-content-study

• https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/10/23/researchers-find-tiktok-algorithm-favors-pro-mamdani-content/

• https://breitbart.com/tech/2025/10/23/researchers-chinas-tiktok-boosts-pro-mamdani-content-in-algorithm/

• https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/NCRI-Report_-The-CCPs-Digital-Charm-Offensive.pdf

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