TikTok gave children placebo safety tool in secret experiment

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 8 Oct, 16:31 · Archive

New York's lawsuit alleges TikTok gave thousands of children and teenagers a non-functional safety feature while testing.

New York state is suing TikTok over allegations that the platform conducted secret experiments in which thousands of child and teenage users were given non-functional versions of a safety feature. The tool, called 'Algo Refresh', was designed to reset content recommendations for users seeking to avoid unwanted or harmful material. Users who received the placebo version believed they had activated the feature, but their feeds remained unchanged, unlike those given the fully functional version.

The lawsuit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is one of more than two dozen state cases accusing TikTok of deliberately engineering its platform to foster addiction among children and misleading the public about safety measures. Court documents suggest that while TikTok publicly emphasises safety as a paramount concern, it deliberately blocked certain users from accessing safety tools even when they explicitly sought them.

TikTok disputed the allegations in a statement to Reuters, saying: 'We continuously make improvements to our platform which means that, like most companies, we regularly test new products and features to validate the experience and understand how they work in the real world.' The company said in court filings that protecting younger users remains a core focus. TechCrunch reported that Bloomberg previously reported TikTok had withheld a safety feature from 15 million US users in another experiment.

How it is being reported

• New York alleges TikTok gave teens, children a placebo safety feature instead of a real oneNew York’s lawsuit against the company is one of more than two dozen cases brought by states accusing the social media giant of designing its platform to encourage addictive use among children.TechCrunch · 8 Oct, 16:06
• TikTok gave kids a placebo safety tool in secret experiment, New York lawsuit saysThis lawsuit is one of more than two dozen state lawsuits charging TikTok with engineering its platform to foster addictionIndependent World · 8 Oct, 13:22

In this story: TikTok · New York · Letitia James

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