Bridging awareness and resistance: Using algorithmic knowledge against controversial content

Abstract

Political and moral/religious contents are increasingly popular on TikTok, and the concerns associated with them create the premises for a re-exploration of the user–machine agency negotiation. Using algorithmic awareness as a process, this research examines the relationship between users’ awareness of the TikTok algorithm and the main concerns associated with content that conveys political or moral/religious tenets. A survey of 329 Romanian students showed that greater algorithm awareness influences positive attitudes toward algorithms, but significantly stronger positive effects are observed between awareness and the two mediators related to political and moral/religious content perceived as contentious. Using Foucauldian insights on productive resistance, I argue that in-depth knowledge about the functionality of algorithms empower users to identify and subvert different forms of power, algorithmically mediated through political or religious content. When users perceive that they have enhanced agency over what they watch on TikTok, they feel that they can control potential concerns and consequently adopt positive attitudes toward algorithms and the overall platform. Foucault discusses pastoral power as a subtle form of power, designed to empty individuals of their deepest secrets. Similarly, such power is increasingly algorithmically mediated, given that digital machines enhance their agency in often nontransparent ways. Therefore, users’ awareness regarding the functionalities of algorithms allow them to combat the various mutations specific to pastoral power while encouraging them to adopt more positive attitudes toward algorithms in general.