US lawsuit: TikTok management deliberately ignored the dangers of the app

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On Tuesday, 14 US states backed up their lawsuits against TikTok for failing to protect minors with serious accusations: the subsidiary of the Chinese company ByteDance had "knowingly exploited our young people. For profit", emphasized California's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

In the meantime, a glitch has made it clear what the states are basing their harsh indictment on. An internal communication exchange from TikTok that accidentally became public suggests for the first time that the operator largely ignored the known dangers of the video app for the protection of minors and launched controversial manipulative functions anyway.

Accusation: deception of the public

According to a report by US public broadcaster NPR, the confidential material was part of a two-year investigation into TikTok by state attorneys general. The states argue that the multi-billion dollar company misled the public about risks. Dozens of internal memos, documents and research data were redacted in each of the individual lawsuits filed by state regulators. Prosecutors had previously entered into confidentiality agreements with TikTok.

However, in one of the court filings, which came from the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, the redactions were erroneous. The Kentucky Public Radio station therefore succeeded in exposing excerpts of the supposedly unrecognizable material simply by copying and pasting, thus bringing around 30 pages to the public's attention.

After 260 videos, the addiction takes hold

Editors at NPR said they reviewed all redacted portions of the complaint, in which TikTok executives openly discussed a number of dangers for children and teens on the app, which is particularly popular with these age groups. The explosive material is mainly summaries of internal studies and communications. They are said to show that some remedial measures such as time management tools would only lead to a negligible reduction in screen time. The company nevertheless decided to introduce and advertise the functions.

According to the documents, TikTok has determined the exact number of views required before the personalization algorithm has a massive effect and the use of the application becomes a habit: 260 videos. After that, "a user is likely to become addicted to the platform", the state investigators state. "While this may seem substantial, TikTok videos can be as short as 8 seconds and are automatically played to viewers in rapid succession." According to this formula, the average user develops addiction in less than 35 minutes.

TikTok's own research

TikTok's own research also states that "compulsive use correlates with a range of negative mental health outcomes, such as loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, depth of conversation, empathy and increased anxiety."

Furthermore, the documents show that the operator was aware that "compulsive use also interferes with essential personal obligations such as adequate sleep, work/school obligations, and contact with loved ones." TikTok is also known to associate content that promotes eating disorders ("thinspiration") with issues such as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.

Court documents are now under seal

After Kentucky Public Radio published excerpts of the redacted material, a US federal court judge sealed and barred the entire complaint at the request of the Attorney General's Office. This move is intended to ensure that no more "settlement documents and related information, confidential trade and business secrets, and other proprietary information are unlawfully disseminated," according to an emergency motion to keep the complaint confidential. Kentucky officials filed the motion on Wednesday. A TikTok spokesperson defended the company's existing child protection measures and condemned the publications.

In Europe, the British regulatory authority Ofcom imposed a fine of millions against TikTok in July for errors in information on the protection of minors. In the EU, the platform operator is considered a "gatekeeper" and must comply with the strictest obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In April, the company "voluntarily" suspended the reward functions in TikTok Lite after the EU Commission threatened to take tougher action against the corresponding program.

(nen)