Shocking revelations about teens in redacted TikTok documents | WUWM 89.7 FM

Kids as young as 15 were stripping naked on TikTok’s live feature powered by adults who paid for it.

This is what TikTok learned by launching an internal investigation after a report on Forbes. TikTok officials discovered there were a “high” number of underage streamers receiving a “gift” or “coin” in exchange for undressing – real money converted into digital currency, often in the form of a stuffed toy or a flower.

It’s one of several disturbing accounts that have come to light in a trove of secret documents reviewed last week by NPR and Kentucky Public Radio. Even more troubling, TikTok executives were fully aware of the potential harm the app could cause to teens, but didn’t seem to care.

The news follows a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general, which led state officials to sue the company on Tuesday.

Here are some of the most serious and novel allegations against TikTok, the wildly popular app used by about 170 million people in the United States.

You can get “addicted” in less than 35 minutes, or 260 videos

TikTok quantified the precise number of views needed for a person to form a habit: 260 videos.

Kentucky officials note that while it may seem like a lot, TikTok videos may only last a few seconds.

“Thus, in less than 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform,” state investigators conclude.

TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes beautiful people

When TikTok’s main video feed saw “a high volume of…unattractive topics” filling everyone’s screens, the app revamped its algorithm to amplify users the company considered good-looking, according to an internal report accessed by Kentucky investigators.

In fact, TikTok documents show that the company went so far as to change its algorithm to reduce the visibility of people it deemed unattractive and that it “took active steps to promote a narrow beauty standard, although it could have a negative impact on its younger users,” according to Kentucky. ” authorities wrote in the previously redacted documents.

TikTok usage limits barely had an impact

The app allows parents to set usage time limits for their children, ranging from 40 minutes to two hours per day. TikTok even created a tool that sets the default time to 60 minutes per day to combat excessive and compulsive use of the social media app.

After testing, TikTok found that the tool had little impact – representing a drop of about a minute and a half of usage, from about 108.5 minutes per day to 107 minutes with the tool. According to the complaint, TikTok has not revisited this issue.

One document shows a TikTok project manager speaking candidly about the real purpose of the time limit feature: “to improve public trust in the TikTok platform through media coverage,” the TikTok employee said. Our goal is not to reduce the time spent.

95% of smartphone users under 17 use TikTok

A presentation given to the company’s top executives revealed that about 95% of smartphone users under the age of 17 use TikTok at least once a month. This led a company employee to say that the company had “hit a ceiling among younger users.”

TikTok saw itself as being engaged in an “arms race for attention,” according to a 2021 internal presentation.

An internal document regarding users under the age of 13 instructed moderators not to take action on reports about underage users unless their bio specifically states that they are 13 or younger.

Under federal law, social media companies cannot collect data from children under 13 without explicit parental consent.

Compulsive use of TikTok interferes with children’s normal lives

The documents show that TikTok was aware that it “interfered with essential personal responsibilities like getting enough sleep, work/school responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones.”

An anonymous TikTok executive put it in blunt terms, saying the reason kids watch TikTok is because the power of the app’s algorithm prevents them from “sleeping, eating, moving around the room and look someone in the eye.

Response from TikTok, senators and a watchdog group

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek on Thursday criticized NPR for reporting on information that is now under court seal, saying the material “cherry picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”

Some advocacy groups, however, welcomed the revelations.

The Oversight Project, a social media watchdog group, said TikTok had not been honest about the safety of children on the app. “These unexpurgated documents prove that TikTok knows exactly what it’s doing to our children – and the rot goes all the way to the top,” the group wrote on X.

Also Friday, bipartisan pair of Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) wrote a letter to TikTok asking the company to turn over “all documents and information” related to the security disclosures. children on the app, citing the NPR report.

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