This commentary was published in commemoration of International Fact-Checking Day 2024, held April 2 each year to recognize the work of fact-checkers worldwide. Öyküm Hüma Keskin is a fact-checker with Teyit, an independent fact-checking group based in Ankara. A version of this article first appeared in Turkish on the Teyit website.
Don’t be surprised about the presence of fact-checkers on TikTok. It’s no longer just a hub for dance routines and funny clips.
In many countries around the world, TikTok has grown to become one of the top online news-sharing platforms. Its strong appeal to young people drives that growth, even while older platforms stagnate, according to the 2023 Reuters Institute Digital News Report.
But for one of every five searches on TikTok, Gen Z users are likely to encounter misinformation at least once, according to the misinformation monitoring group NewsGuard.
With this backdrop, the entry of fact-checkers into TikTok’s realm was inevitable. In 2023, Teyit dived deeply into TikTok to see if there was a need for fact-checking and to serve new audiences. Let’s dig into what we packed into those 365 days.
Wearing two hats on TikTok: Teyit’s blend of humor and seriousness
(Screenshots/TikTok)
We confess: Teyit’s website has a serious tone. It’s a reflection of our work, dealing with grave topics like politics, economics, education, health, and war, all through a lens of factual evidence. It’s fair to say that 2023 was a tumultuous and demanding year for all. Events such as the Feb. 6 earthquakes, the presidential and parliamentary elections, and the ongoing wars in the Middle East have dominated our agenda.
To be honest, producing content on TikTok amid all these crises was no small feat.
But that’s what we accomplished. We danced when the time was right, played with humorous filters, and sometimes distilled our extensive analyses into a few seconds of trending snippets. TikTok proved to be one of the prime platforms to demonstrate that Teyit is more than just an “admin” behind the scenes.
Take, for instance, the widespread TikTok trend of using a gold ring to test for a person’s iron deficiency. We jumped on this bandwagon, but with a twist — setting the record straight. Each team member tried the gold ring test, rubbing it on our foreheads. Some got a black mark, others didn’t. This sparked our curiosity, leading us to investigate and debunk the myth; the black mark could be caused by allergies or sweat, but it had no relation to iron deficiency. This research turned into an article, followed swiftly by a TikTok video. This experience underlined the importance of crafting content that resonates with the user experience.
Yet we didn’t ignore more pivotal issues like earthquakes and elections, and it was then we leaned into our more serious “Teyit persona.”
Our peak engagement on TikTok coincided with the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, underscoring the dire need for trustworthy information in times of crisis, even on a platform typically associated with entertainment.
As the election gradually began to make its presence felt, we turned our focus toward voting processes and election security. Our video explaining how certain actions could invalidate a vote soared to 2.4 million views, becoming our most-watched TikTok content to date. This was a clear indication of how many people rely on TikTok as a source of information.
All this work resulted in measurable growth: In 2023, through the creation of 157 pieces of content on TikTok, we achieved approximately 12 million views and 160,000 interactions. Teyit’s follower count soared to 14,000. We made tangible progress in our overall strategic goals: amplifying awareness about the problem of misinformation, introducing users to fact-checking practices, and strengthening digital literacy and critical thinking.
We’ve also learned how to blend the more lighthearted and entertaining side of Teyit with our serious persona. Our methods may vary, but our goal remains steadfast: to deliver the accurate information that people need, regardless of platform or style.
