TikTok’s recommendation algorithm quickly turned our For You page into a cesspool of pro-Nazi content after interaction with Nick Fuentes videos. 

Fuentes, a white nationalist streamer and Media Matters' pick for 2025 Misinformer of the Year, is technically banned from numerous platforms. Nevertheless, clips from his show and interviews regularly circulate on social media.

To test what sorts of recommendations a user who sought out Fuentes content might subsequently receive, Media Matters documented a TikTok “For You” page after searching for and interacting with Fuentes videos. We were served an array of videos promoting Holocaust denial, Nazi iconography, and white supremacist groups.

In theory, Fuentes is banned from TikTok. Searches for “Nick Fuentes” or his affiliated “Groypers” (the name given to a loose network of white nationalist trolls who follow Fuentes) return no video results; instead, a community guidelines message notes that “this phrase may be associated with hateful behavior.” However, Media Matters research going back to 2022 shows Fuentes’ fans to be seasoned experts when it comes to dodging moderation and religiously uploading his content in an effort to reach larger audiences. 

Despite his ban, accessing Fuentes content on TikTok isn’t difficult. Intentional misspellings, as recommended by TikTok’s suggested search when a user begins to type his name, retrieve videos of Fuentes. 

For this analysis, Media Matters documented and assessed the content delivered to a TikTok account’s FYP after engaging with Nick Fuentes content.

First, we conducted the following search queries: 

• “nick fuentues"
• “nick fuentas"
• “piers nick” 
• “tucker nick” 

For each search, we “liked” and fully watched the first five results. After that, we began our FYP scroll and documented notable videos. Our feed was almost immediately inundated with extremely hateful content.

Here’s a glimpse at our FYP after interacting with Fuentes content

Holocaust denial

Our account was repeatedly fed videos denying that 6 million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust. These videos often referenced a competing, debunked claim that the death toll was actually 271,000, a number commonly cited by Holocaust deniers to downplay the genocide. 

One video using the expanding brain meme format (which illustrates the progression of ideas from primitive to advanced), described those who believe the Holocaust death count was 6 million as “Low iq normies.” The highest tier of supposed enlightenment, “Based Chad,” was seemingly a threat to Jewish people: “We will try again AND succeed.”

Nazi symbols and slogans

We also observed videos containing Nazi imagery and slogans. For example, one user wore and advertised a mask featuring SS Lightning Bolts, a neo-Nazi symbol derived from Nazi Germany.

The phrase “the sun will rise again” has been weaponized to “covertly endorse Nazi ideology and white supremacy.” We were fed videos displaying a variation of this phrase, “The sun is rising,” with comments on the videos seemingly confirming their reference to Nazi Germany.

Images of the sonnenrad, or “black sun” — an ancient European symbol appropriated by Nazis — also featured in videos.

White nationalist groups

TikTok’s algorithm also served our account white nationalist recruitment videos. The first came from the White Awakening Movement, an account that instructed white Americans to “stay strong” and encouraged white users to direct message the account for additional details on the movement.

WAM’s account posts videos with phrases like “save your race!” and “join white.” Its account bio includes two thunderbolt emojis, seemingly a reference to SS lightning bolts, and the text reads, “Unification of our people is a step away!!”

The other group, posting under the moniker NOVANowUSA, was the National Organization for Vital Action, which promotes “WHITE UNITY.” 

The group’s website claims it is a nonprofit organization cultivating a “genuine pro-White community.”