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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. Now, a devastating revelation regarding how the app handles user safety might force even the most dedicated scrollers to think twice about their continued presence on the platform.
According to a confidential internal report obtained by Bloomberg, when TikTok updated its algorithm in 2021 to stop users from getting overwhelmed by harmful content, the company intentionally withheld the fix from millions of users. To measure how safety features might impact app stickiness and daily active user (DAU) metrics, TikTok conducted a massive A/B experiment. By design, a control group comprising 10% of US users — about 15 million people — kept the old, unprotected version of the algorithm.
Among those randomly selected for this trial was 16-year-old Chase Nasca. Stripped of safety guardrails, Chase’s feed was flooded with more than 7,500 videos centered on depression, loneliness, and suicide. Tragically, in February 2022, Chase took his own life. A 14-page internal review prepared by TikTok’s algorithm and safety teams later confirmed that Chase’s account fell into a dark filter bubble because prevention strategies did not take effect “by design”.
What makes these details so chilling is the stark divide between public claims and corporate realities. Just weeks after completing its internal investigation into Chase’s death, CEO Shou Chew testified before Congress, as Reuters reported then, repeatedly assuring lawmakers that teen safety and transparency were top priorities. Yet, in written responses to congressional questions about whether algorithmic testing had ever caused user harm, TikTok maintained that its guidelines applied to all content — omitting the fact that millions of users were secretly participating in an experiment that balanced safety against engagement.
While TikTok has already settled several personal-injury suicide cases this year, according to Bloomberg, it remains to be seen whether any of these forces real change to how these algorithms get built or just adds another settlement to the pile.
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