Underage girls stripping, promotion of "attractive users", and quantified phone addiction- these were amongst several disturbing reports that emerged from TikTok's internal investigation.
Over the last week, NPR and Kentucky Public Radio obtained a collection of internal documents from TikTok. The internal investigation and subsequent documents came after Forbes magazine reported the prevalence of underage girls being sexualized on the platform.
The TikTok Strip Club
According to various reports, including an investigation carried out by Forbes, TikTok's live feature, which allows users to stream live, has been abused. It has been reported that several girls, including minors as young as 14, have been performing as strippers engaging in various sexual acts. In exchange, they receive a digitized currency or "gifts" from the viewers.
Reports of these incidents have formed the backbone of a bipartisan lawsuit filed against the platform. The lawsuit was filed separately across 13 states in the United States.
TikTok's spokesman, Alex Haurek, said that the lawsuits were misleading, stating, "We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen time limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16."
TikTok's Pretty Privilege Policy
Another area of concern from the report was that TikTok proactively pushed engagement and exposure for users it found attractive. According to the report, TikTok changed its algorithm after "a high volume of … not attractive subjects" was seen on the main feed.
Presumably, this reconfiguration was aimed at keeping users on the app. However, what or who it determines to be "attractive subjects" is unknown.
According to the Kentucky report, TikTok "took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their Young Users,".
Manufacturing Online Addiction
Through its own reports, TikTok was able to analyze and calculate the exact amount of time it takes to become addicted. On average, it would take a user scrolling through 260 videos to become addicted. While this might seem like a very large number, TikTok videos last only seconds.
State investigators from Kentucky concluded that as a result of this, it takes only a short period of time to develop this addiction. "In under 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform."
Although TikTok has tools to limit screen time, they have been described as ineffective. The app allows parents to limit their children's time online to anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour per day.
However, tests conducted by TikTok found that the tool had little bearing on the end result. While using the tool, on average, the time dropped from 108.5 minutes to 107, well above the 60-minute threshold it had set.
An Endangerment to Children
Perhaps more troubling is that the app is aware of the danger it poses to young children. TikTok's age policy requires users to be at least 13 years old, but the app does not actively remove them.
According to an NPR report, "An internal document about users under 13 instructed moderators not to take action on reports on underage users unless their bio specifically states they are 13 or younger."
In response to the reports and allegations, TikTok's spokesman, Alex Haurek, criticized journalists for "cherry-picking misleading quotes and taking outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety."
As we await the impending trials and their eventual decisions, it is more important than ever to pay attention to the discourse surrounding TikTok and social media as a whole, particularly in our day and age.
From questions about privacy to the blatant exploitation of children and complete disregard for their safety and other users, how much autonomy should be afforded to social media?
