# TikTok Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiktok/ 46 people recommended TikTok in Hacker News comments, 65 had mixed feelings and 529 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 12 months, in 38 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended: critics call it addictive and worry about censorship and government influence; those who recommend it cite a recommendation algorithm that surfaces niche, educational content from small creators. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. Claude agents reviewed it against the quotes on 2 Nov 2026. ## What people warn about - Addictive, engagement-maximizing design (4 comments in the sample): "I deleted tiktok because i have an addictive personality and it was too good at giving me both that dopamine fix and what i actually…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49813120)) "short form content is easier to get sucked into for hours on end than those other ones and something I’m more likely to regret participating…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49379281)) "The real plague is the infinite scroll, engagement-farming social media like Twitter, post-newsfeed Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46948863)) - Censorship after US ownership (3 comments in the sample): "This isn't significantly different than the way TikTok has been operating all along…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46328167)) "The whole point of the forced sale of TikTok was for the American-Israeli hegemony to exert control over the narrative of the platform." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777930)) "In this particular case the censoring of anti-ICE post is most likely because TikTok is getting American (read: Trump allied) handlers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46778129)) - Chinese government influence concerns (3 comments in the sample): "China chose to deliberately manipulate and abuse their platform by using it to cause all sorts of users to flood their representatives with calls" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46282327)) "Preventing a geopolitical rival which we have no democratic control over from exerting algorithmic influence over our country is a no-brainer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46281185)) "TikTok isn’t an app worth having on your phone due to spyware/attention brute forcing/curated propaganda by Chinese government" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46794159)) - Feed pushes unwanted content (2 comments in the sample): "there's literally a button that says “I'm not interested in any live videos”, but it keeps inserting livestreams into the feed anyway" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47019008)) "I played with TikTok for a week or so. Every time I opened it, it was suggesting feeds featuring clearly mentally impaired people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740114)) ## Why people recommend it - Educational and useful niche content (3 comments in the sample): "I get a lot of stuff I care about (some scientific papers overviews, blender/davinci editing tips and tricks, bits of high-quality podcasts) on tiktok" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414266)) "TikTok is now censoring that as much as they can. Prior to the censorship, TikTok was actually a good place for people to get educated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539356)) "Is it really bad to give me woodworking and learning chinese videos if that's what I'm interested in at the moment?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46916367)) - Best-in-class recommendation algorithm (2 comments in the sample): "it has a highly effective recommendation engine precisely because it is showing you one piece of content at a time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163614)) "Tiktok came along and showed everybody (including Youtube) just what a bad job they were doing at recommendations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48565234)) - Surfaces small and local creators (1 comment in the sample): "I am not going to against the news part, as you could see my other replies from someone who find niche hobbies with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752030)) ## Other social networks people recommend - [Mastodon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastodon/): 201 recommend, 56 mixed, 202 criticize - [Bluesky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bluesky/): 180 recommend, 103 mixed, 347 criticize - [X (formerly Twitter)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x/): 119 recommend, 102 mixed, 920 criticize - [Instagram](https://hackerapproved.com/p/instagram/): 79 recommend, 111 mixed, 666 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.tiktok.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "TikTok", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiktok/ (46 recommend, 65 mixed, 529 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.