In mid-January, TikTok influencer Taylor Paré posted a video titled "Victoria's Secret nightmare roommate." In the clip, the New York-based creator described her experience living with someone she said was a popular Victoria's Secret model, relaying anecdotes about her roommate lying, stealing clothes, and using a suitcase as their trash can.
The video went viral — now with over 10 million views — and ignited a wave of speculation about the roommate's identity. It wasn't just because TikTok users love to gossip — the platform suggested names of popular models as related searches at the bottom of Paré's video.
"The bottom of the video was telling me Devin Windsor," one user commented. "I have no idea who she is but it's my guess now." When Business Insider viewed the video, TikTok suggested searching for "devon windsor suitcase" and "Taylor Hill" in different search bars.
As TikTok looks to boost search activity, the company is automatically generating suggested queries in the search bars on videos. These phrases, which are determined algorithmically based on comments and searches from other users, sometimes contain sensational, misleading, or simply unrelated information, according to creators BI spoke with and others who have called out the issue on the app.
In Paré's case, the allegations caused by the search-bar suggestions spread so far that she published a follow-up video telling viewers that the search bar "doesn't actually mean anything" and that "it changed on multiple occasions." Paré did not comment to BI by press time.
"Most people don't understand how to check the validity of statements made online," Julia McNamee, an ASMR creator who said she's encountered unexpected search suggestions on her videos, told BI. "I definitely think this can just be grouped in with the rest of the issues there are around misinformation being spread on social media."
To generate recommended search phrases, TikTok scans user comments on a video, as well as what other users search for after watching a post, a company spokesperson told BI. The company said it tries to safeguard its recommendations by filtering out harmful suggestions, such as bullying phrases that might violate its terms, and allowing users to report instances where a recommended search conflicts with its policies. Creators can add specific words to their comment filters to prevent them from appearing in search recommendations, the spokesperson said.
But in some cases, automated search queries that don't violate TikTok's terms can still fuel sensationalist narratives about a video's creator or subject matter, surprising some users who said it creates mixed messages for their followers. Some avid TikTok users have even made videos addressing it. One creator posted a video wondering why the key search term on her video included objectifying terms about her body, for instance.
Since user comments help feed recommended searches, trolls flooding a creator's comments section with rude phrases or false claims can impact what the app recommends their followers view next.
Industry experts and creators are left wondering whether TikTok's efforts to boost search activity may end up causing more harm than good.
"Maybe this is their way of trying to perfect the search bar and search engine capabilities, but people are getting caught in the crossfires," said Katarina Terentieva, chief creative officer at media-production company Louder Group, who also dabbles in content creation.
Search has become an increasingly important part of TikTok's strategy, as the video app has gained popularity as a search engine, particularly among Gen Z users. Seventeen percent of US consumers found TikTok to be the "most helpful" when searching for information, according to a recent survey from Adobe Express. The company has trialed search products for advertisers and partnered with Google on some search-related tests. Creators have taken notice, implementing their own search-engine optimization, or SEO, strategies on the app.
But the company's push to automate search recommendations using data like user comments and other users' searches is having an unintended, and at times troubling, effect, influencers told BI.
While traditional search engines like Google can also display rumors in recommended searches, TikTok's video-first format plants them right beneath the subject of gossip, making it feel more targeted.
Creators are frustrated at their lack of control over the search terms
When creator Joel Bervell first noticed the mismatch between his TikTok videos and recommended search terms, he was confused. Bervell creates content about racial discrimination in healthcare, among other topics. In one of his videos, which explained his views on race as a social construct, BI saw the search bar displayed "social animal," for example.
"We have no control over what it says or how the keywords are chosen, which is so strange," Bervell said. "It happens all the time, and we're not really able to see what the search bar says unless you go in from another account."
Like Bervell, several other TikTokers expressed frustration at their lack of control over the recommended searches, which can end up being "gossipy," he said, or completely unrelated to their content.
Creator Jahleane Dolne, who makes videos about career advancement and personal growth, told BI she noticed the search terms on the top of her videos change frequently and are not always related to her content. For example, in one video where she breaks down the concept of a subconscious mindset, the search term is "mindfulness book." Since she didn't mention promoting a book in the video, Dolne didn't understand how that search term was derived.
"It's just not what my videos are about, and it's honestly really frustrating," she said.
Beyond confusing and frustrating creators, Brett Dashevsky, who founded the events company Creator Economy NYC, said TikTok's search recommendations could also send users down unintended rabbit holes — a criticism directed at other social apps like TikTok competitor YouTube.
"You can go from one video to Lord knows where it will take you by just clicking on the search suggestions," Dashevsky said. "These search suggestions are another level to the rabbit hole that you can go down."
