“Spam Liking” On TikTok: What Is It? Is It Harmful?

Likes are usually a reliable measure of a TikTok post’s popularity. The more people who watch a TikTok video and hit the “like” button, the more approval a content creator receives for their work and, in most cases, the more exposure the post will be given by the TikTok algorithms.

Spam, needless to say, is bad (or as South Park’s Mr. Mackey would say, “spam is baaad, m’kay?”). The word is generally used to describe low-quality, unsolicited content or marketing material spread widely across the social media platform. It can also refer to inauthentic engagement with TikTok content or TikTok accounts, often promulgated by bots.

So, what’s the connection between likes and spam?

Explaining Spam Liking on TikTok

In some cases, the term “spam likes” is used to describe the “fake likes” delivered by scammy vendors in an effort to boost a video’s TikTok metrics. It’s an effort destined to fail. The system’s algorithms can detect and remove fake likes quickly because they’re linked to fake accounts on the app.

More often, though, “spam likes” refers to the practice of rapidly liking a large number of videos without watching them. Some TikTok users resort to the practice when they want to attract the attention of an influencer or popular content creator; the users find the creator’s profile and need just seconds to like all of their posts, one after another.

The technique is sometimes also used (mostly without success) by creators. They use a different account to like all of their videos, trying to boost their videos’ crucial engagement rates. That’s one of the most important metrics the algos use to decide whether the posts deserve larger audiences.

It doesn’t really matter what form these spam likes take. TikTok frowns on the activity and often takes action against the perpetrator and the account being promoted.

The Consequences of Spam Liking

Users who go on a spam liking binge are viewed as trying to “game” the system. When TikTok sees it happening, the users are likely to have their accounts shadowbanned. That results in visibility for their own content being severely limited, and they may not have access to some of the app’s functions. Users aren’t notified of shadowbans, which can last from 3 to 14 days.

Those who try spam liking a prolific content creator’s post may run into penalties for another reason, too. TikTok limits the number of videos you can like per day; estimates of the acceptable number range from 200 to 500, but if you try liking hundreds of posts in a short period of time, you could also be suspected of spamming and receive a shadowban.

They’re not the only ones who may suffer.

Accounts whose content is spam liked may be shadowbanned, too, since it’s possible the accounts’ owners were behind the activity. In any event, they also suffer a different type of consequences; other key metrics like total watch time (measured in watch hours) may drop dramatically since the likes came from someone who didn’t spend any time viewing the videos.

Lower metrics lead to a decline in exposure, so the victims of this scheme are unlikely to look fondly on users who spam like their content. In other words, spam liking may indeed attract influencers’ attention — but not in the way the perpetrators hope.