TikTok creator exposes TikTok pro-vaccine caption secret

TikTok has been exposed after a creator noticed the app seemed to censor the word “unvaccinated” when creating captions for videos.

Video sharing platform TikTok has engaged in a clever tactic in a sneaky effort to stamp out the spread of coronavirus misinformation.

An eagle-eyed creator drew attention to the secret feature over the weekend after conducting her own set of fact checks which confirmed her suspicions.

Natalie Gasson, based in New Zealand, filmed herself in the car with a friend as the pair repeatedly worked the word “unvaccinated” into sentences.

They unveiled how the app removed “un” from the word in its automatically generated captions, so whenever the word “unvaccinated” was spoken, it would display as “vaccinated”.

Their discovery caused a mixed reaction from fellow TikTok users, with some complaining the app was “taking away our freedom of speech”.

One viewer argued TikTok was “controlling the narrative”, while another was upset at what they described “media manipulation”.

The pair repeated “unvaccinated" but it displayed “vaccinated”. Picture: TikTok/natgasson

Captions automatically showed “vaccinated”. Picture: TikTok/natgasson

Others accused Ms Gasson of pedalling a conspiracy by editing the captions, however a test of her theory conducted by news.com.au delivered the same result.

Some viewers speculated “unvaccinated” wasn’t displayed because it wasn’t a word, however that theory was shut down by its appearance in the Oxford dictionary.

It was further dispelled by the fact other words beginning with “un” were sometimes displayed in two parts like “un” and “sure”, rather than “un” being removed completely.

To prove the trick only applied when discussing vaccinations, they verbalised other words that begun with “un” like unhappy, unsatisfied and unimpressed.

Unlike “unvaccinated”, each of the other words were shown in captions in their entirely, without “un” being removed.

The test seemingly proved that TikTok was purposefully removing the term “unvaccinated” from its captions system in a ploy to reduce misinformation on the app.

@natgasson TikTok clearly supporting the covid vaccination status 😂 just to point out we are both fully vaccinated and boosted ✔️✔️#vaccinated#covid#fyp#NZ#captions#girls#vaccine#status#tiktok♬ original sound - Natalie Gasson

“TikTok clearly supporting the Covid vaccination status,” Ms Gasson wrote in her caption.

She expressed approval for the tactic, announcing that she and her friend were “fully vaccinated and boosted”.

TikTok has been contacted by news.com.au for further information about its censoring of the word “unvaccinated”.

Any video that features a mention of coronavirus or vaccinations will have a link to a Covid-19 fact page automatically displayed at the bottom.

The fact page features a long list of common questions about the virus and answers from the World Health Organisation.

A TikTok spokesperson couldn’t confirm or deny the app purposely censored the word “unvaccinated” from closed captions.

“While this word is not prohibited on our platform, we’re working to improve the accuracy of our speech-to-text translation,” they told news.com.au.

“We remain committed to ensuring that our community can access accurate and authoritative information on Covid-19 and vaccines.”