The TikTok teams had identified the harmful effects of the platform on young people, but limited preventive measures for fear of a drop in users, according to internal documents revealed on Friday by Kentucky State Public Radio.
The documents had been mentioned in the subpoena issued by the Kentucky prosecutor, along with twelve other US states and the Washington DC prosecutor, accusing TikTok of damaging mental health of its young users.
Kentucky State Radio reconstructed the communications before a state judge ordered the documents removed from the public record.
Documents show TikTok was aware of the attractive power of your platform and its recommendation algorithm, which offers chain videos.
“We need to be aware” of the consequences the algorithm can have on “sleep, nutrition, moving around the room, or looking someone in the eye,” a company executive wrote.
In another internal document, TikTok assessed that a user can “become addicted” from viewing 260 videos.
“Compulsive use (of TikTok) is linked to a series of negative effects on mental health, such as the loss of analytical capacity,” and also harms “memory formation, the ability to contextualize, converse and empathize,” they conclude. investigators from the company itself, according to the documents.
The frequent use of the social network It also generates “an increase in anxiety,” according to the same source.
TikTok has added a number of features to limit the use of the platform by younger users, such as parental control and interruption after one hour of viewing.
However, according to the documents, the Chinese subsidiary ByteDance did not try to improve this tool, even being aware of its limited effectiveness.
“Our goal is not to reduce time spent” on the platform, wrote a TikTok project manager.
“It is very irresponsible that (public radio) has published information protected by law,” TikTok said in a reaction sent to AFP.
For the platform, the documents were “taken out of context” and cited in a “misleading” manner. The company highlights that it has implemented measures to protect minors in their social network.
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