Algorithmic opacity itself generates speculation that drives platform engagement

Evidence

The lack of transparency about the mechanics of algorithmic surfacing (the personalized content generated by the algorithm) on TikTok’s #ForYou space has roused intense speculation and even suspicions of conspiracy, but it has protected the company’s monetizing model and helped direct even more traffic to the app. … The overall aesthetic of irreverence is ubiquitous here too and includes more sinister content (often overtly racist and sexist) that is reminiscent of the meme subcultures of anonymous platforms like 4chan, 8chan, Gab, and Reddit. The app is in equal measure preposterous and addictive, representing a reality on the cusp of chaotic incomprehensibility. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 291

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Core to the reader’s whole book project: opacity in the recommendation engine is not a flaw to be fixed but a productive feature — speculation about the algorithm feeds the app’s traffic, mirroring how speculation about markets is itself generative.
• XREF: Directly extends the reader’s own finance/prediction-markets material on speculation as social formation — the #ForYou ‘wall’ is structured like a market one cannot see the mechanism of, and betting on it recruits users. — connects to: Algorithmic media shifted from forecasting tools to incubators of speculative sociality — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 207; Algorithmic media have shifted from forecasting toward incubating collective uncertainty — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 324

Broader Connections

• Algorithmic media shifted from forecasting tools to incubators of speculative sociality #expands (0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 207
• Algorithmic media have shifted from forecasting toward incubating collective uncertainty #expands (0.78) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 324