TikTok knowingly lied about how its algorithm led to a suicide
Brief
TL;DR
- A leaked internal report reveals TikTok withheld algorithm safety features from ~15 million people in 2022 to test how guardrails impacted daily active user (DAU) metrics.
- The report notes that a 16-year-old was randomly placed in the unprotected control group, flooding his feed with thousands of suicide and self-harm videos shortly before his death.
- TikTok says user safety remains a top priority, and it continues to invest in Trust and Safety.
TikTok is certainly no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year, alarming shifts in TikTok’s privacy policy had many of us weighing whether it was finally time to hit delete on our accounts . Yet, as anyone who has searched for a decent TikTok alternative knows, finding a platform that recreates its hyper-personalized magic is far easier said than done.