Document: “Tik Tok” was aware of its bad effects on young people – 10/11/2024 – Tech

TikTok teams have identified the platform’s harmful effects on young users, but limited safeguards for fear of a decline in user numbers, according to internal documents revealed by Kentucky Public Radio on Friday (11).

The documents were contained in the lawsuit issued by the Attorney General of Kentucky, along with 12 other US states and the Attorney General of Washington, which accuses TikTok of harming the mental health of its young users.

Kentucky State Broadcasting released the information before a state judge ordered the documents removed from public records.

The documents show that TikTok was aware of the attractive power of its platform and its recommendation algorithm, which delivers videos sequentially.

“We need to be aware” of the consequences an algorithm can have on “sleeping, feeding, moving across the room, or looking someone in the eye,” one company executive wrote.

In another internal document, TikTok assessed that a user could “become addicted” after watching 260 videos.

“Compulsive use [do TikTok] It is associated with a series of negative mental health effects, such as loss of analytical ability” and also harms “memory formation, the ability to contextualize, speak, and empathize,” the company’s researchers concluded, according to the documents.

Frequent use of social networking also generates “an increase in anxiety,” according to the same source.

TikTok has added a series of functions to limit the use of the platform by younger users, such as parental controls and pausing after one hour of use.

However, according to the documents, the Chinese subsidiary ByteDance did not attempt to improve this tool, even though it was aware of its limited effectiveness.

“Our goal is not to reduce the time we spend” on the platform, the TikTok project manager wrote. “It’s very irresponsible [a rádio] He published information protected by law,” TikTok commented in a response sent to AFP.

According to the platform, the documents were “taken out of context” and cited in a “misleading” manner. The company highlights that it has implemented measures to protect minors on its social network.