Employees at TikTok have been sounding alarms about significant issues affecting minors on the app. They highlighted the presence of children in sexual content accessible to paying viewers, creating potential legal problems for the company. This concern extended to minors finding ways to bypass age restrictions and block parental monitoring on the app.
Court records reveal employee frustrations with leadership’s responses to their concerns. In depositions filed in federal court, workers expressed worries about the app’s impact on child safety, especially since its rise in popularity among young people in 2018.
Despite repeated alerts, company surveys to assess user ages were avoided due to fears of mandatory reporting to the Federal Trade Commission. TikTok offered no public comment on these court revelations but referenced existing company policies.
TikTok, along with Meta, Google, and Snap, faces litigation initiated in 2022 over allegations that their platforms harm users under 18. The suits claim these companies were aware of user risks yet failed to disclose them. TikTok has settled several cases, including a landmark Los Angeles case against YouTube and Meta, which found their platforms addictively targeted young users. In May, TikTok agreed to an $8 million settlement over youth mental health concerns. Another lawsuit resulted in a $100 million settlement with Alabama over similar allegations.
Though these cases are unresolved in court, employee depositions provide insight into concerns about the platform’s safety for minors. Reagen Maher, a former safety and investigations senior staffer, described her persistent efforts to escalate these issues internally. She testified about her frustration in trying to get leadership’s attention, indicating they knew of the sexual exploitation risks minors faced on TikTok Live before a public Forbes article exposed it.
An internal probe found children between 13 and 15 featured in numerous TikTok Live videos within a month of 2022. These instances often involved minors performing for digital gifts convertible to cash. This practice put the company at risk of facing financial and legal consequences.
While federal law mandates reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, it’s unclear if TikTok met these obligations. The company did not disclose whether it reported the concerning content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or if it took action against accounts involved in such transactions.
Further testimonies highlighted minors bypassing age-restrictions through other platforms. They reported loopholes in TikTok’s sign-up process, allowing children access to adult-only features by using accounts from other social media services.
Despite these issues, TikTok remains popular, with a significant percentage of U.S. teens using the platform. Following its acquisition of Musical.ly, TikTok’s user base grew considerably. Yet, attempts to assess user demographics were abandoned to avoid scrutiny under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
In response, TikTok introduced ‘family pairing’ features, aiming to empower parents in managing their children’s use. However, a non-disclosed link allowed teens to disconnect from parental controls, undermining its effectiveness.
Testimony from Eric Han, a former head of safety, included concerns over ‘rabbit holes’—the phenomenon where users repeatedly see similar content, potentially dangerous regarding body image or suicide. An internal report acknowledged the app’s impact on suicidal thoughts and behavior, yet parents were not adequately warned about the risks.