We may never fully understand how TikTok’s “For You” algorithm works or why it sends users down the sometimes very specific rabbit holes it does. But the company is making it a bit easier to control what topics are likely (or not) to appear in recommendations.
The company is rolling out a setting to “manage topics” within the app to all users in an attempt to add more personalization to users’ feeds. The setting, which the company began offering in the United States last year, is a set of sliders that allow people to specify how often they want particular types of videos to appear in their recommendations. The sliders cover about a dozen general topics, like nature; food and drink; fashion and beauty; and pets. For each interest, you can drag the slider to “see more” or “see less.”
TikTok notes that these in-app controls “won’t eliminate any topics entirely,” so the sliders won’t, say, prevent any sports content from ever appearing in your feed. But the company says the setting “can influence how often they’re recommended as your interests evolve over time.”
For those who want more granular control over their feeds — at least when it comes to blocking specific types of content — TikTok is also expanding its keyword filtering option, which allows people to choose specific keywords they don’t want to see. Now, the app will use AI to make those filters smarter by adding extra keywords for similar content. For example, if you choose to filter “remodeling,” the app may also opt to add “renovations” to your filtered words. The app may also automatically block alternate spellings of topics, like “cat” or “c@t.” The company says it expects these “smart filters” to “get increasingly precise as more people use it over time” and that it will eventually allow users to add up to 200 keywords.
Both features are available now in TikTok’s settings in the app’s “content” preferences section.
