APS
2026 APS Annual Convention · 2026
The Online Political and News Climate In Adolescents’ Donated Tiktok Feeds
- Kevin Oostrum
Department of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University - Matthijs Westera
Leiden Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden - Wouter van den Bos
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin - Wouter van den Bos
Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Ili Ma
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden - Ili Ma
Department of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University
Abstract
We used LLMs to investigate adolescents’ (n = 57, ages 16–25, 46 women) TikTok exposure to news, politics, and societal issues. We found mostly unofficial sources, which used more emotional, intolerant, and impolite language than official sources. This suggests that youth primarily encounter more polarized, less regulated information.
