Claire Ricks likes to keep up with current events. She follows mainstream news websites and considers herself an avid newspaper reader. The 29-year-old had mostly regarded social media as a place for memes and cute animal videos until this spring, when she helped study a platform an increasing number of people are turning to for news: TikTok. Ricks, a student at the Harvard Extension School, was assisting with a research project developed by Ben Reininga, one of this piece’s co-authors. Bot...
