Tok Tok?!?!

TikTok Knows it is Harming Children

As well as other social media apps, TikTok has been under increasing scrutiny over the past couple of years particularly in relation to it's so-called addictive design, persuasive design features, targeting of children and more. Historically TikTok (and others) deny this stating that the safety and welfare of their users is front of mind, but is that true?

In the United States 14 Attorney Generals are suing TikTok and as a part of this they have gathered a number of evidential internal documents which allegedly give some alarming information, such as:

• It only takes 260 videos (approx. 35 minutes on the app) to form a habit.
• Compulsive usage can be correlated to a number of negative mental health effects such as contextual thinking, analytical skills, empathy, increased anxiety.
• The positive outcomes of time-management tools would have negligible positive impact. This is where TikTok proposes the user takes a break after 60 minutes. However if a habit is formed after 35 minutes it questions whether there is any positive effect. But TikTok decided to release the tool because it was seen as good PR.
• The company is aware that current moderation practices are ineffective in relation to children (of all ages) being shown harmful content.
• TikTok purposefully demotes content from users they deem unattractive or disabled.

It should be noted that this evidence, and much more, is alleged. It will be up to the courts to decide and if true it paints an appalling picture of greed over safety and wellbeing.

You can read more about this on the 5Rights website HERE.