Social media algorithms drive engagement through problematic content and attention-based models

An analysis of 2,577 Instagram and TikTok videos reveals how social media algorithms shape the daily lives of youth in Montenegro. While Instagram focuses on lifestyle, beauty, and fashion, TikTok offers more diverse content including humor, sports, and gaming. However, approximately 4.6% of the analyzed videos contained problematic content. Notably, users are twice as likely to encounter such content on Instagram compared to TikTok.

Among the problematic categories, 23% involved the normalization of violence, including violence against children and sexual violence presented through humor. Discrimination and hate speech, such as homophobia and antisemitism, accounted for 14%, while 13% consisted of disturbing content. Other significant categories included risky behaviors (12%) and gender-based or sexualized content (12%). Experts warn that the humorous nature of this content often prevents it from being taken seriously, despite its influence on shaping young people's opinions.

Broadly, the digital economy relies on maximizing user attention to drive advertising revenue. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, reported record advertising revenues of $196.2 billion last year. This business model has faced legal scrutiny in the United States, where 29 states filed lawsuits against Meta, alleging that platforms are intentionally designed to encourage addiction among younger users.