TikTok Execs Know About App's Effect On Teens, Lawsuit Documents Allege (npr.org) 34
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR : For the first time, internal TikTok communications have been made public that show a company unconcerned with the harms the app poses for American teenagers. This is despite its own research validating many child safety concerns. The confidential material was part of a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok was designed with the express intention of addicting young people to the app. The states argue the multi-billion-dollar company deceived the public about the risks. In each of the separate lawsuits state regulators filed, dozens of internal communications, documents and research data were redacted -- blacked-out from public view -- since authorities entered into confidentiality agreements with TikTok.
But in one of the lawsuits, filed by the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, the redactions were faulty. This was revealed when Kentucky Public Radio copied-and-pasted excerpts of the redacted material, bringing to light some 30 pages of documents that had been kept secret. A group of more than a dozen states sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the app was intentionally designed to addict teens, something authorities say is a violation of state consumer protection laws. After Kentucky Public Radio published excerpts of the redacted material, a state judge sealed the entire complaint following a request from the attorney general's office "to ensure that any settlement documents and related information, confidential commercial and trade secret information, and other protected information was not improperly disseminated," according to an emergency motion to seal the complaint filed on Wednesday by Kentucky officials.
NPR reviewed all the portions of the suit that were redacted, which highlight TikTok executives speaking candidly about a host of dangers for children on the wildly popular video app. The material, mostly summaries of internal studies and communications, show some remedial measures -- like time-management tools -- would have a negligible reduction in screen time. The company went ahead and decided to release and tout the features. Separately, under a new law, TikTok has until January to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. TikTok is fighting the looming crackdown. Meanwhile, the new lawsuits from state authorities have cast scrutiny on the app and its ability to counter content that harms minors.
But in one of the lawsuits, filed by the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, the redactions were faulty. This was revealed when Kentucky Public Radio copied-and-pasted excerpts of the redacted material, bringing to light some 30 pages of documents that had been kept secret. A group of more than a dozen states sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the app was intentionally designed to addict teens, something authorities say is a violation of state consumer protection laws. After Kentucky Public Radio published excerpts of the redacted material, a state judge sealed the entire complaint following a request from the attorney general's office "to ensure that any settlement documents and related information, confidential commercial and trade secret information, and other protected information was not improperly disseminated," according to an emergency motion to seal the complaint filed on Wednesday by Kentucky officials.
NPR reviewed all the portions of the suit that were redacted, which highlight TikTok executives speaking candidly about a host of dangers for children on the wildly popular video app. The material, mostly summaries of internal studies and communications, show some remedial measures -- like time-management tools -- would have a negligible reduction in screen time. The company went ahead and decided to release and tout the features. Separately, under a new law, TikTok has until January to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. TikTok is fighting the looming crackdown. Meanwhile, the new lawsuits from state authorities have cast scrutiny on the app and its ability to counter content that harms minors.
Other than being caught outright... (Score:4, Insightful)
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I recall there being internal messages at Facebook to the effect of targeting kids as well. They just haven't achieved the same market penetration.
I'm not sure these sites manipulating older people is any better either. But addressing that would require the politicians (and people reading this post) to confront the uncomfortable idea that "They're manipulating me too". So that won't happen.
A smaller part of it has to do with the foreign ownership of Tik Tok. Only American garbage is allowed.
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You're right, Facebook does it too, but not to the extent of TikTok, or China's other platform, Temu, which is the most predatory app to date besides gambling, imo. I think TikTok actually did it first though, and people wanted it so Facebook stole the idea. I'm talking about for the "stars" and what all you can pay
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In what way is X's algorithm transparent?
I don't know about transparent, but it's pretty good at showing me a bunch of shit I have no interest in, which limits the amount of engagement I'm willing to have with the app. Facebook has been like that lately, too. I think if I was a teenager who desired to bury my nose in my phone to escape reality, I probably wouldn't want to use either of those networks for prolonged periods.
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It's not anything unique. There's always been criticisms made against things that seem to be too appealing to young folks. For my generation, it was MTV and video games. Eventually, the young folks grow up and start to hate the new scary things that their kids are into, and the cycle continues.
Yeah so what? (Score:2)
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Conspiracies (Score:4, Interesting)
I just wanted to point something out and let you do the thinking.
So we know TikTok is widely used by teenagers. These teenagers often sport a woke mindset, and have been seen to be anti-America and pro-communism or pro-socialism. Really just pro-something new. TikTok isn't the first app that has been divested that China owned. Grindr was.
Grindr has, from the start, been used for drugs, sex, and other ways that are disrupting to the "family." It also targeted a minority, and predates the "woke" popularity (woke being promoting sexual orientation in school, transitioning of trans youth, etc.).
With the knowledge from this article, it seems that all of this coincides with ways to destabilize the American population. Now here is where it gets interesting. Chinese history tells us that the Mao dynasty ushered in communism by starting a revolution among minority groups, similar to what is going on here. TikTok is a platform for that revolution, with many youth being pro-Gaza and against Israel, one of our allies. Gen Z is a minority group, and vocal. So are LGBTQI+, they're vocal.
The ability to create an app to facilitate change is not new. Netflix changed the entire ecosystem to streaming, eventually. Napster forced record labels to offer their music as MP3s without DRM. Change has occurred from apps for a long time. So do you think that China, given the revelations about TikTok, is doing this on purpose?
Re: Conspiracies (Score:1)
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Consider these two important facts: first, the LGTBQ+ crowd is the loudest supporter of Palestinians and Hamas and is anti-Israel (as you said) even though Israel supports western rights such as gay marriage while the punishment for being LGBTQ+ in Gaza is to be thrown from a rooftop.
Or perhaps the internet just amplifies the most obnoxious voices who do not necessarily represent an entire group?
If any of us Americans had to deal with a regularly occurring threat of bombs falling from the sky and each time crossing our fingers that the "Iron Dome" takes most of them out before they hit anything important, we'd be absolutely demanding that our military eliminate the threat with extreme prejudice.
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the LGTBQ+ crowd is the loudest supporter of Palestinians and Hamas and is anti-Israel (as you said)
I'm not sure that's actually true. I was at a pro-Palestine protest not long ago, and none of the gay people we invited went along. One bi person went, though.
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After years of woke-ness, the government is claiming domestic violence is increasing. Their solution is doubling-down on the man-bashing language while not actually blaming anyone.
In the 90s, "normal" stopped being defined as white, English-speaking, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied (and almost-frigid, if female) person. It isn't sufficient to say, don't count the sexual partners someone has: As religion proves, bad habits last for centuries. Schools had to denounce slut-shaming and other white-su
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Grindr has, from the start, been used for drugs, sex, and other ways that are disrupting to the "family."
Grindr just cut out all of the bullshit that other dating sites had when it came to letting gay men hook up with each other for sex. Prior to Grindr, there was Adam4Adam and gay.com. Also, most of the hetero dating sites (such as OKCupid and HotOrNot) offered gay matchmaking, as did the Craigslist personals section back when it still existed.
The belief that letting gay people be themselves somehow disrupts families is just far-right homophobic propaganda. I have no idea who said it first, but it's quite
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It's only going to get worse from here, because as we start using AI, the non-scientifically studied principals that get force fed down the throat of the AI's users by the company, are determining what we learn and in what way. The "safe guards" put in place and the bias in the model's training both determine the outcome of knowledge for a
Is Facebook any different? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, Facebook isn't targeting kids to the same extent, and because they're headquartered in the States they have to be more responsive to government pressure, yada yada yada. But realistically, they've denied that they're doing their best to addict users and have been caught out at it via whistleblowers and leaks.
If the government wasn't on these companies' payrolls, a lot more would have been done. But Facebook has come out mostly unscathed. And Tik Tok - created by and beholden to a foreign power whose interests explicitly run counter to those of the US - is STILL doing its shit in the States. That tells you everything you need to know about the federal government's complicity with Big Tech.
The gov may put on a show of putting the screws to these guys, but if they were really serious these businesses would have smartened up or been shut down long ago. And maybe even at the state level the legislators ARE serious - I can't tell. But the Feds are just putting on a show. That's why, at the end of the day, Facebook, Tik Tok, and others, are still unexcised social cancers. Money talks, and bullshit doesn't even walk - it just buries the citizens.
Playing favourites (Score:1)
Other social media corporations have done that too: This isn't about bad behaviour, this is about the government controlling corporations.
If the US government cared about children, they would be punishing Fox News, Truth Social accounts, X/Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts for inciting children (and adults) to do dangerous things (like putting all-metal objects in electrical outlets), or just for making provably false statements. The government failing to punish a large entity such as Fox News, is a bi
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And yes, I use Facebook and X, I don't use Truth Social, although I'm not aware of any kids that do either. Maybe kid-like adults, but not kids. Nor do kids real
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Instagram has done more to protect minors though than TikTok has and doesn't have algorithms that circulate communist agendas, at least as easily.
if we continue to shit on the site (Score:1)
TikTok should read before responding (Score:2)
NPR reviewed... The material, mostly summaries of internal studies and communications, show some remedial measures — like time-management tools — would have a negligible reduction in screen time.
and the response:
TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said: “We have robust safeguards... We have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16.”
Tell the world how great your tools are when you've already admitted they are bad. Our ex-president would be proud.