Confidentiality lifted in TikTok lawsuit: Allegations of experiments on teenagers
With the lifting of confidentiality in the TikTok lawsuit in the US, it was claimed that the platform conducted experiments on young users under the guise of security features.
The lifting of confidentiality in the ongoing TikTok lawsuit in New York has brought to light alleged security experiments conducted on child and young users.
Striking Allegations in Court Files
According to court documents whose confidentiality was lifted within the scope of the TikTok lawsuit ongoing in the US state of New York, it emerged that the platform conducted a security experiment on thousands of child and young users.
Fake Button and Non-Functional Features
Within the scope of the experiment, young people who wanted to activate the 'Algo Refresh' feature, which serves to reset recommended posts and block unwanted harmful content, were presented with a non-functional version of the feature.
According to the allegations in the lawsuit, the children who thought they were turning on this feature were actually pressing a completely fake button, and the feature in question was never activated in the application.
Lawsuits Filed in Multiple States
According to Reuters, TikTok is accused in more than 20 lawsuits filed in various US states of designing the platform to make children addicted.
Statement from TikTok
A TikTok spokesperson stated that they regularly test new products and features to verify user experience and understand how they work in real life.
While denying the allegations, the company spokesperson maintained that the safety of young users is always their priority.
Harmful Content and Security Vulnerabilities
The files also include allegations that some users were exposed to harmful content due to the disabling of security features, and that this led to tragic events.