19:43Machine-translated from Azerbaijani by AIRead in Azerbaijani
Employees: TikTok Knew About Risks to Children but Failed to Act
Testimony from TikTok employees was submitted to federal court in March 2026. The documents revealed serious problems involving child safety on the platform. Although employees repeatedly warned management about the risks, the necessary steps were not taken. The issues involved sexual exploitation, access to age-restricted material, and suicide-related posts. Employees said executives did not take these problems seriously enough.
Reagen Maher held senior positions in safety and investigations from 2021 to 2024. She informed then-CEO V Pappas that minors were undressing during TikTok Live broadcasts in exchange for virtual gifts. Those gifts could be converted into real money, and the platform could generate revenue from them. According to Maher, management knew about the risk of sexual exploitation even before the issue became public. Former head of safety Eric Han expressed concerns about the algorithm in an internal report from 2020. According to him, the algorithm could repeatedly direct a user to harmful posts. Han emphasized that content about suicidal thoughts and behavior could also negatively affect others. Although he called the safety of minors an urgent issue, he said parents were not warned about the potential dangers. The documents also show that children exploited loopholes in age verification and hid their activity on the platform from their parents. According to other documents, TikTok did not conduct a survey to determine users’ ages. The reason was the possibility that the survey results would be provided to the Federal Trade Commission. TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snap have faced federal litigation that began in 2022. The case consolidates hundreds of claims. The plaintiffs say the companies knew their platforms were harming minors but concealed the risks from young users. TikTok settled several of these cases before trial. The company also reached a settlement in the Los Angeles case before the trial began. Jurors concluded that the Meta and YouTube platforms were designed to make young people addicted. TikTok did not immediately comment on the allegations in the documents.
Reagen Maher held senior positions in safety and investigations from 2021 to 2024. She informed then-CEO V Pappas that minors were undressing during TikTok Live broadcasts in exchange for virtual gifts. Those gifts could be converted into real money, and the platform could generate revenue from them. According to Maher, management knew about the risk of sexual exploitation even before the issue became public. Former head of safety Eric Han expressed concerns about the algorithm in an internal report from 2020. According to him, the algorithm could repeatedly direct a user to harmful posts. Han emphasized that content about suicidal thoughts and behavior could also negatively affect others. Although he called the safety of minors an urgent issue, he said parents were not warned about the potential dangers. The documents also show that children exploited loopholes in age verification and hid their activity on the platform from their parents. According to other documents, TikTok did not conduct a survey to determine users’ ages. The reason was the possibility that the survey results would be provided to the Federal Trade Commission. TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snap have faced federal litigation that began in 2022. The case consolidates hundreds of claims. The plaintiffs say the companies knew their platforms were harming minors but concealed the risks from young users. TikTok settled several of these cases before trial. The company also reached a settlement in the Los Angeles case before the trial began. Jurors concluded that the Meta and YouTube platforms were designed to make young people addicted. TikTok did not immediately comment on the allegations in the documents.