{
  "id": 2174031,
  "title": "Senators demand answers from TikTok over experiment that disabled safeguards",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/senators-demand-answers-from-tiktok-over-experiment-that-disabled",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-20T16:22:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCrunch",
    "slug": "techcrunch",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/20/senators-demand-answers-from-tiktok-over-experiment-that-disabled-safeguards/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.\n\nThe 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.",
  "summary": "The safeguard was designed to prevent users from being overwhelmed by harmful content, but TikTok wanted to determine whether it made the app less engaging.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "Two US senators demand answers from TikTok about a \"depraved\" test that withheld a safety feature from 10% of US users, including a teenager who died by suicide (Olivia Carville/Bloomberg)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/two-us-senators-demand-answers-from-tiktok-about-a-depraved-test-that",
        "published": "2026-08-20T17:00:47.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Record",
        "title": "Senators press TikTok over withholding of safety features for some users",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/senators-press-tiktok-over-withholding-of-safety-features-for-some",
        "published": "2026-08-20T17:33:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}