Taking back and giving back on TikTok: Algorithmic mutual aid in the platform economy

This article explores three genres of TikTok content in which creators and users collaborate to re(direct) the value they create on-platform toward specific needs, people, and causes. Drawing from literatures on platform economies, user and creator labor, algorithmic imaginaries and resistance, and mutual aid, we used algorithmic ethnography to identify and define major genres of content, eventually creating a sample of 192 TikTok videos (including comments and metadata) and conducting a thematic analysis. The videos and practices shared the following themes: realizations of on-platform value, tactics oriented against platform logics and monetization programs, shared theories of value, and digital collaboration for a cause. We argue the genres constitute forms of algorithmic mutual aid, a practice unfolding in platform economies that demonstrates people’s increased recognition of the value of their digital labor, and efforts to reorient platform logics of value, visibility, and compensation to care for one another.

Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Doctrine: Ripple Effects Across Health Care

During its 2024 term, the Supreme Court issued multiple decisions that fundamentally reshape the relationship between the branches of the federal government. Much attention has been paid to its decision in two consolidated cases, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce (collectively “Loper”), in which the Supreme Court effectively declared “Chevron deference” dead. Chevron deference was a doctrine that for decades guided how courts evaluate the validity of federal regulations by requiring that courts defer to agency decisions in certain circumstances.

Loper is a culmination of the Court’s hostility to administrative agencies; this hostility was already manifest in its COVID-era decisions to strike down the eviction moratorium promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s mandate that large businesses require that their employees either be fully vaccinated against COVID or tested weekly—both at the height of an unprecedented pandemic. The upshot of the Court’s decisions is the aggrandizement of the federal judiciary above both the Congress and the Executive.

Social Media Warnings Alone Can’t Solve the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Last week, US Surgeon General Murthy called for putting warning labels on social media platforms, an effort to combat a mental health crisis that affects millions of children in America. This is a contested position: while some young people have suffered terribly as a result of these platforms, the scientific consensus is far from clear on whether social media has a discernible negative impact on kids’ mental health overall. And since two-thirds of young people turn to social media and the web specifically for well-being resources, some researchers argue that digital platforms could actually become part of the solution. This is an area where we urgently need clarity — and yet it remains elusive.

Why is this the case? There are many reasons we could point to, including that research with kids is extremely difficult to do both rigorously and safely. But one reason looms above the others. Tech companies — whether or not they are the main cause of this country’s mental health woes — are actively obstructing the search for solutions.