Senators press TikTok over withholding of safety features for some users
In a letter on Wednesday, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) criticized the company for having “knowingly withheld a critical safety measure for millions of American users."
Two U.S. senators, Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, have urged TikTok to provide answers regarding an experiment that disabled a safety feature for 15 million American users, including a teenager who tragically took his own life. In a letter to TikTok's CEO Shou Chew and Adam Presser, the senators called the company's decision "depraved."
Bloomberg reported that TikTok intentionally turned off an algorithmic safeguard for about 10% of U.S. users, creating a control group to determine if the company could make the app less engaging. One of the individuals in this control group was 16-year-old Chase Nasca, whose algorithm was bombarded with content about sadness, suicide, and loneliness until his death by suicide.
The senators are demanding a range of 13 questions about the experiment, including the names of every employee who knew about it and why minors were included in the control group. They are also seeking a list of all algorithmic experiments conducted in the U.S. while TikTok disabled or delayed safety features. The senators have given TikTok until September 1 to respond. As of now, TikTok has not provided a comment to TechCrunch.
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