According to a recent survey, the algorithm of the social media app TikTok pushed minors into the rabbit hole of drug-related and pornographic content The Wall Street Journal.
The magazine created dozens of automated accounts registered as users aged 13 to 15 to determine what content will be displayed on the “For You” page of these young users. This is TikTok’s main feed and provides highly personalized content. Analysis of videos shows that the longer these young users stay on pornographic videos, the more videos related to the content.
Then users will find themselves caught in a vulnerability that many users call “KinkTok”.
The Wall Street Journal also found that TikTok promoted many other videos related to rape, drugs and sexual addiction.
At a certain moment, accounts that watch more pornographic videos have more than 90% of the videos related to bondage and sex. TikTok later deleted 616 videos from the 1,276 videos shown to the youth account.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that TikTok declined to comment on individual video surveys, but a spokesperson said that the app does not distinguish between the videos it provides to adults and minors, but TikTok is studying better filtering of minor content Methods.
The spokesperson said in a statement: “The protection of minors is of utmost importance. TikTok has taken industry-leading measures to provide young people with a safe and age-appropriate experience.”
TikTok’s terms of service stipulate that users must be at least 13 years old, and any user under the age of 18 requires parental consent.
TikTok also stated that the Wall Street Journal’s automated accounts “in no way represent the behavior and viewing experience of real people” and that the platform “is reviewing how to help prevent even very unusual viewing habits from causing negative cycles, especially for our young users. “
In June, TikTok deleted nearly 7.3 million accounts It is suspected of belonging to users under 13 years of age.This move comes after the demographic information of the users of the app is involved Leaked to The New York Times.
Teenagers and young people constitute a large number of TikTok users. A statistical report Found that about a quarter of TikTok almost 100 million monthly active users The age is between 10 and 19 years old.
