TikTok Aware Design Harmful To Children, Complaint Says

TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to young users and that tools that supposedly limited children’s time on the service were largely ineffective, according to internal company documents inadvertently exposed through a lawsuit by US states.

The information appeared in passages that were redacted in 14 separate state lawsuits filed against TikTok last week.

TikTok said it stands by its efforts to protect children and minors.

In Kentucky, one of the states that filed the lawsuits, a clerical error meant that the redacted passages could be read when copied into another document.

Internal documents

The documents include internal communications and presentations showing the company was aware of potential harms to children, and that at times it presented information publicly that contradicted its own internal research.

The information was first reported by Kentucky Public Radio.

The documents were gathered during a probe lasting more than two years by the states filing the lawsuits.

TikTok is also facing a separate lawsuit from the Department of Justice, which is in turn suing the agency over a law that could ban the application in the US in January unless it is divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Kentucky’s complaint, like those of the other states, also alleges TikTok’s algorithm knowingly promoted “beautful people” although it knew internally that this promoted narrow norms of beauty to its young users.

The complaint alleges that TikTok has quantified how long it takes for users to become addicted to the platform, with internal presentations saying the “habit moment” occurs when users have watched 260 videos or more during the first week of having an account.

Compulsive use ‘rampant’

TikTok tracks user engagement and noted in an internal report by a group called “TikTank” that compulsive use was “rampant” on the platform, the complaint says.

The complaint quotes an unnamed executive as saying kids engage with TikTok because the algorithm is “really good”.

In March 2023 TikTok rolled out a 60-minute daily screen time limit for minors, but the Kentucky complaint argues this was largely a public relations exercise, with success measured internally by metrics including “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage”.

Actually reducing screen time for teens was not included as a success metric, and in fact the company planned to revisit the design of the tool if it reduced teens’ usage by more than 10 percent.

A TikTok executive named Zhu Wenjia approved the feature on the condition that its impact on TikTok’s “core metrics” was minimal, the complaint says.

An internal experiment found the time-limit prompts reduced teens’ average screen time by about 90 seconds, from 108.5 minutes to 107 minutes per day.

‘Not attractive’

The complaint says TikTok changed its algorithm after an internal report found the main For You feed was showing a high “volume of … not attractive subjects”.

“Defendants took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their young users,” the complaint says.

TikTok knows internally that it has significant “leakage” rates, or content that remains on the platform although it violates rules, but does not disclose this information, the complaint alleges.

The company allows some creators considered “high value” to post content that violates its rules, according to the complaint.

The document was sealed by a Kentucky state judge last week, but several outlets reported on its contents.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said it was “highly irresponsible” of outlets to report on the contents of a sealed document and said the complaint presents misleading quotes and outdated documents out of context.

Haurek said the company has “robust safeguards” and has launched safety features for minors under 16.

“We stand by these efforts,” Haurek said.