TikTok is intentionally harming children.
And while the same goes for many other social media platforms, none is more sinister than the Chinese-owned apps that have become parasites on the minds of young Americans.
New documents obtained in an investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman show that TikTok is well aware that children under 13 are using the app in violation of its policies. To children and teens who claim to be aware of underage girls stripping on livestreams and the role it plays in causing sleep deprivation.
It's time for American parents, politicians, educators, and really all of us to fight back against TikTok's stranglehold. 170 million US usersflatly.
Some of the evidence Coleman presented in court was redacted due to a non-disclosure agreement between investigators and TikTok. Kentucky Public Radio reporter I was able to decipher incompletely blacked out materials.
The 30 pages of compiled material are primarily the result of TikTok's internal investigations, documents, and communications. Some of the information was previously released in investigations into apps in Nevada and Utah.
It was revealed that 95% of teens with smartphones use TikTok, but the document states that the platform is designed to help people “get enough sleep, keep up with their work and school responsibilities, and connect with loved ones.” The company recognizes that “it is interfering with important personal responsibilities such as”
One TikTok executive, who declined to be named, admitted that the app interferes with his ability to “sleep, eat, move around the room, and look into someone's eyes.”
According to the document, TikTok is also aware that children under 13 are using its platform. Violation of community guidelines. However, the app's moderators were reportedly told by TikTok not to delete accounts flagged by other users as underage unless the user's profile clearly states they are under 13.
The document also shows that assuming 8 seconds per video, it takes just 35 minutes, or 260 videos, to get hooked on TikTok.
“TikTok intentionally manipulates the release of dopamine in the developing brains of young users, causing them to use TikTok in an excessive, compulsive and addictive manner, causing both mental and physical harm. ,” Kentucky said. lawsuit against the company claims.
The app also allegedly artificially promoted content from more attractive people, and the company reportedly tweaked its algorithm to suppress content from less attractive people.
Kentucky investigators allege that TikTok “took active steps to promote narrow beauty norms despite the potential negative impact on young users.”
The document also states that the company was aware that 15-year-olds were stripping on livestream for adults and paying for them in “coins,” a digital currency purchased with real money. It is claimed that According to TikTok's own measurements, the number of underage streamers involved in such schemes was “large”.
And last but not least, the company recognized that parental time limits had little impact on app usage.
In response to public concerns about addiction and time management, TikTok in 2023 Parents can now set time limits on their children's accounts.
The company's own tests found that this time limit reduced average daily usage by just one minute. However, they did not investigate further and ignored its inefficiency.
But teen accounts, which also exist on Instagram, are unlikely to actually cut down on screen time. This has been shown to reduce sleep, mental health, and quality of life in teenagers.
A nominal effort to get good press doesn't seem to make much of a difference in the end.
“Unfortunately, this complaint misrepresents our commitment to community safety by cherry-picking misleading quotes and taking outdated documents out of context,” a TikTok spokesperson told the Post. Ta. “We have strong safeguards in place, including proactively removing users we suspect are underage, default screen time limits, family pairing, and default privacy for minors under 16. “We support these efforts.''
They added, “We have been working with the Attorney General for more than two years, but the Attorney General has taken this action without collaborating with us on constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges. This is very unfortunate,” he added.
In response to the report, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (R-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) sent a letter Friday asking TikTok to provide all child safety concerns. He demanded that the documents be handed over. A TikTok spokesperson told the Post that the company would respond directly to the letter.
Also, on October 8, more than a dozen states, led by New York and California, announced that they are threatening the mental health crisis of teens by misleading the public about the safety of apps, violating consumer protection laws. The app was sued for perpetuating the issue.
“Children and families across the country desperately need help dealing with this crisis, and we are doing everything we can to protect them,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement regarding the lawsuit. said.
“Unfortunately, I'm not surprised by these revelations,” psychologist Dr. Gene Twenge, author of “Generations,” told the Post. “[TikTok’s] Moderators routinely allow offensive and inappropriate content. It's also no wonder they knew their parents' time limits weren't working, but didn't care, given that the more time children and teens spend, the more profits they make. ”
As a Zoomer who grew up online, I agree.
Like other social media companies, TikTok has an incentive to attract children's attention with algorithmic heroin. But we need to be especially wary of Chinese-owned companies that have direct access to children through screens.
Especially because TikTok knows how to do it better.
China has gone to great lengths to protect children from the dangers of the app by releasing a special version called Douyin.
The domestic iteration limits daily usage to 40 minutes between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., prevents endless scrolling, and promotes pro-social, educational, and patriotic content. do.
Shouldn't America's children demand at least more protection?
It's time for American families to fight back against this shady social media psychological operation, stand firm, and remove this app from the American consciousness once and for all.
