TikTok gave teens, children placebo safety feature in experiment, New York alleges
NEW YORK: TikTok ran an experiment on thousands of users who tried to turn on a safety feature on the platform, giving them non-functional versions of the tool, according to allegations in New York’s lawsuit against the company unsealed on Wednesday.
New York alleges that TikTok conducted "ghost" experiments on thousands of users, including teens and children, giving them non-functional safety features. These tests, aimed at studying user engagement and ad revenue, provided users with the appearance of activating safety tools, but the features remained inactive. The lawsuit claims that TikTok misled users about the effectiveness of these tools and prioritized profits over safety.
One user, a teen boy, died by suicide after being exposed to harmful content during a separate set of experiments.
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