Your 2026 Wrapped: An Investigation of TikTok Data Donation Pull Factors

Abstract

Access to social media data is becoming increasingly restricted by large platforms, limiting researchers’ ability to study online behavior and raising concerns about equity, transparency, and ethics in data-driven research. Data donation—where individuals voluntarily provide their own platform data—offers a promising solution, yet little is known about what motivates individuals to participate. This study investigates the factors that encourage TikTok users to donate their data, focusing on both monetary and non-monetary “pull” factors. We contribute a novel data donation tool in the form of a “TikTok Wrapped”, and overall find that donation rates are high for both a non-monetary bundled intervention and small monetary incentives. More broadly, this work contributes to the design of ethical, scalable, and accessible data donation systems that support a more transparent and inclusive future for social media research.