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TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale

Recently revealed text in legal briefs tells a damning story about the company, in its employees’ own words

For those who think that social media is relatively harmless, we urge you to read the quotations and internal studies described below, in which employees of TikTok discuss the vast and varied harms that they are causing to literally millions of American children each year. personalization and automation, which limits user agency” and a “product experience utiliz[ing] many coercive design tactics,” including “numerous features” —like “[i]nfinite scroll, auto-play, constant notifications,” and “the ‘slot machine’ effect” —that “can be considered manipulative.” The intensive density of negative content makes me lower down mood and increase my sadness feelings though I am in a high spirit in my recent life.” Another employee observed, “there are a lot of videos mentioning suicide,” including one asking, “If you could kill yourself without hurting anybody would you?”

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