London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 08, 2025

Covid-19 vaccine misinformation being spread easily via TikTok Sounds, targets people of color – UK think tank

Covid-19 vaccine misinformation being spread easily via TikTok Sounds, targets people of color – UK think tank

A London-based think tank has said that TikTok is being used to distribute and promote misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines as the “Sounds” feature allows dubious audio content to proliferate with ease.
On Monday, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a think tank focused on extremism, published a report claiming that a feature known as TikTok Sounds is allowing vaccine misinformation to proliferate as multiple users can re-use previously recorded audio content.

A team at ISD looked at 124 videos which used speech originating from four particular TikTok videos, two of which had been removed by the platform for breaking rules on misinformation and fueling fears about Covid-19 vaccine side-effects. More than 20 million people had viewed the 124 videos, ISD said.

“There’s a part of the content which is still able to travel,” said Ciaran O’Connor, the ISD report’s lead, given the ability of TikTok users to make their own video using someone else’s sounds.

O’Connor took one example in which a user had posted a video stating that they wouldn’t take a Covid-19 vaccine because it had only taken a year to develop, despite people waiting 40 years for HIV vaccines. While the original was deleted on grounds that the audio was misleading and incorrect, the original Sound could still be used by other TikTok users.

The ISD analysis also suggested that the misleading anti-vaccination clips were being targeted at people of color in particular. One video showed a black woman who claimed to be a nurse and allegedly developed Bell’s palsy after her vaccination. While the video was subsequently proven a fake by the Associated Press and the original video deleted, the audio continues to be used on the platform. In one case, the audio is apparently used with the caption saying “they want black people to take it first for a reason.”

In response to the ISD research, TikTok said they had noted the report and were taking action. “We strive to promote an authentic TikTok experience by limiting the spread of misleading content, including audio, and promoting authoritative information about Covid-19 and vaccines across our app,” a company spokesperson told Reuters. They also said that three of the Sounds identified in the report had been removed, as well as some videos.

Over the last year, social media firms including TikTok have been pushed to better censor anti-vaccine material shared on their sites, although audio content has proven harder to isolate.

According to its website, the ISD has received private sector funding from tech companies and social media platforms including Facebook, Google and YouTube, as well as government offices in the UK and elsewhere.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
×