How Instagram and TikTok prey on pregnant women’s worst fears
When Adriana Lopez found out that she was pregnant, one of the first places she turned was TikTok.
Immediately, she began to search for posts about morning sickness and other side effects, Lopez recalls. This was the Stockton, California resident’s first pregnancy, and she wanted to be prepared.
But the app soon began pushing her in a direction that made her uncomfortable. During her first trimester, she said, her “For You” page — the TikTok feed where the app’s seemingly psychic algorithm curates an ever-more-personalized stream of videos — filled up with videos about miscarriages. By her second trimester, it had switched over to clips about genetic disorders and stillbirths.
But the app soon began pushing her in a direction that made her uncomfortable. During her first trimester, she said, her “For You” page — the TikTok feed where the app’s seemingly psychic algorithm curates an ever-more-personalized stream of videos — filled up with videos about miscarriages. By her second trimester, it had switched over to clips about genetic disorders and stillbirths.
She began to feel paranoid that something would go wrong with her own pregnancy. She tried to use the app’s “Not interested” button to signal that she didn’t want to see any more alarming pregnancy videos, but they kept appearing in her feed; she estimates that by her third trimester, they made up more than half of all the videos that TikTok was showing her. Three of her friends, all of them also pregnant for the first time, told her they were dealing with
