A new study by Global Witness paints a very alarming picture about TikTok’s capacity to protect its minors. The study found that TikTok suggested sexual material to accounts registered as 13-year-olds. Global Witness released an alarming report after a study commissioned in April found that… They returned to conduct an interim investigation in late July and August of this year.
Global Witness has long been committed to understanding the impact of big tech on human rights, democracy, and the climate. What they found was that despite their Children’s Codes of the Online Safety Act having gone into effect on July 25, TikTok is still recommending harmful content to children. The Children’s Codes create a legal duty for platforms to protect children online.
Their investigation, TikTok researchers established four profiles mimicking 13-year-olds and discovered that TikTok often pushed sexual content. Campaigner Ava Lee from Global Witness told us she was shocked at these findings.
“Everyone agrees that we should keep children safe online… Now it’s time for regulators to step in.” – Ava Lee, Global Witness
We found a shocking disparity in TikTok’s moderation practices. The company touts its ability to take nine out of ten videos that violate its guidelines down before they even get seen. The constant suggestions for sexual material show that further action is needed.
In response to the findings, TikTok stated, “We are fully committed to providing safe and age-appropriate experiences.” The company mentioned efforts to “remove content that violated our policies and launch improvements to our search suggestion feature.” Unfortunately, these statements failed to answer the hard questions posed by Global Witness.
This report has extensive implications. It raises serious doubts about the efficacy of TikTok’s controversial content moderation tactics, particularly in light of recently passed legislation designed to better protect children online. After all, the digital landscape is always changing. It’s incredibly important for both platforms such as TikTok and our regulators to hold one another accountable and make sure younger users are protected by making them comply with safety standards.
Users have recently taken to social media to share their disgust with the platform’s content recommendations. One anonymous commenter succinctly captured the frustration with a query:
“Can someone explain to me what is up w my search recs pls?”