According to TikTok Live, streams on TikTok Live have been used to exploit children New, unredacted lawsuit Submitted by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. Not only was TikTok aware that TikTok Lives were exposing minors to troubling messages from adults, but the company also directly benefited from some of the exchanges through TikTok Live’s virtual gifting system, the lawsuit says.
after Investigation by Forbes On TikTok Live, TikTok conducted its own review called “Project Meramec,” according to the lawsuit. The company found that “hundreds of thousands of kids” were getting around TikTok’s age restrictions, hosting live streams and interacting with adults.
Since TikTok takes a cut of the sale of digital gifts in live streams, the company was technically making money from “transactional gifting” on the “nudity and sexual activity” that occurs during the stream. And since TikTok’s algorithm favors live streams where virtual gifts are exchanged, the lawsuit says, some of these sexually exploitative streams were also more widely distributed than they would have been otherwise.
The lawsuit details another TikTok investigation, titled “Project Jupiter,” that looked into whether TikTok Live’s gifting feature was being used to launder money. As it turns out, it was. According to the lawsuit, the company found that “criminals were selling drugs and running scams” during the live broadcast.
When reached for comment on the lawsuit, TikTok shared the following statement:
This lawsuit ignores the number of proactive measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the safety and well-being of the community. Instead, the complaint selects misleading quotes and outdated documents and presents them out of context, distorting our commitment to the safety of our community.
We stand behind our efforts, which include: strong safety protections and screen time limits for teen accounts that are enabled by default, family pairing tools for parents to supervise their teens, strict live streaming requirements, and continued strict enforcement of our Community Guidelines.
The Utah AG filed the redacted version of this lawsuit In June 2024the next Different suit From 2023 regarding the addictive design of TikTok. The lawsuit in Utah is not the first time the company has come under scrutiny for its handling of child safety. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has investigated TikTok Dealing with child privacyAnd block the app – now I went to the Supreme Court On appeal – it was prompted in part by concerns about how the social video app could be used to influence children.
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