Stories
TikTok Accused of Secret Safety Tests on Teens and Millions of Users
- •New York Attorney General Letitia James added allegations to a child safety lawsuit accusing TikTok of running secret algorithmic experiments on teen users.
- •The claims stem from a 2021 test impacting about 15 million US users, where a safety feature was withheld from 10% of users to measure its impact on watch time.
- •A teen who died by suicide was reportedly part of the test group that did not receive the safety features.
- •TikTok confirmed it runs standard product tests but denied that these experiments make the platform less safe.
- •TikTok and other social media giants continue to face numerous lawsuits from state attorneys general regarding youth mental health and platform safety.
Key Questions Answered
New York Attorney General Letitia James added allegations that TikTok conducted secret algorithmic tests starting in 2021 by withholding a new safety feature from 10% of US users, impacting about 15 million people. The amended lawsuit states that this exposed test participants to a less safe experience by design, which included a teenager who died by suicide.
TikTok confirmed that it regularly conducts tests involving a portion of platform traffic to validate new products and features in the real world. However, the company denied that these routine tests make the platform less safe for those users.
TikTok agreed to pay up to $300 million to resolve a child safety case in Alabama. The platform faces pressure as Meta reached a massive settlement with nearly every state, and numerous other state and individual lawsuits remain pending over young user safety and mental health concerns.
