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TikTok pulled a hashtag-tracking feature researchers used to study the platform

TikTok recently pulled a tool that allowed researchers and others to study the popularity of hashtags on its app.

Researchers at Rutgers’ Network Contagion Institute had used Creative Center’s search function to track hashtags deemed “sensitive” to Chinese government interests. They added that TikTok had also disabled direct access to a number of “sensitive” topics they had previously tracked, including hashtags related to US politics and other geopolitical issues. TikTok began offering an official Research API to some academic institutions last year, and reportedly plans to make the tools available to some civil society groups that have questioned the company’s content moderation practices.

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