How does TikTok say its For You feed ranks videos, and does follower count matter?

TikTok newsroom (2020-06-18, still served 2026-10-23): For You ranking combines user interactions (likes, shares, follows, comments, content created), video information (captions, sounds, hashtags) and device/account settings (language, country, device type; weighted lower); signals are weighted by value - finishing a longer video is a strong signal vs weak ones such as creator and viewer being in the same country; follower count and previous high-performing videos are explicitly "not direct factors", though accounts with more followers are likely to get more views; the feed intersperses diversity (generally not two videos in a row with the same sound or creator). Current FYF eligibility standards (released 2026-08-25, effective 2026-09-24) prioritize safety, may exclude content from the FYF while it stays findable via search/profile, and note low views do not necessarily mean a rule was broken; together with the Integrity rules, unoriginal/reused material is FYF-ineligible (C3-B363-01). Addendum to C3-B379-01: Instagram's own text lists its most important reels predictions as likelihood to reshare, watch all the way through, like, and visit the audio page. Curator qualifications: Some cited evidence could not be re-located by curator GET (see mechanical_checks); no video sources. TikTok newsroom post dated 2020-06-18 still served; ranking details may have changed since. Instagram comparison cites C3-B379-01 (prior bibliography entry without URL here). Limitations: TikTok newsroom page is from 2020; current model weights unknown. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you",
      "note": "What factors contribute; weighting; intro; Reels section"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/community-guidelines/en/fyf-standards",
      "note": "What factors contribute; weighting; intro; Reels section"
    }
  ]
}