I SAW IT ON TIKTOK: Gen Z Processes of Consumption and Perceptions of Veracity on TikTok

Abstract

In recent years, there has been widespread concern about the prevalence of misinformation online and the unprecedented rates at which it spreads on social media platforms. This thesis expands existing literature on misinformation through fourteen semi-structured interviews with members of Generation Z, the “digital natives,” born between 1997 and 2012. I specifically study Gen Z’s processes of consumption and their perceptions of veracity on the popular social media platform, TikTok. I posit that Gen Z possesses distinct consumption processes, and that the inherently social nature of consumption on TikTok influences perceptions of veracity. Although participants reported consuming TikTok videos with an underlying skepticism of all content, the social nature of consumption – including virality, relatability and algorithmically-curated feeds – renders users susceptible to misinformation. Digital media literacy has the capacity to mitigate susceptibility to misinformation, but perceptions of veracity predominantly remain grounded in the social nature of TikTok and in the notion of truth as a collective understanding.