New York alleges TikTok gave teens, children a placebo safety feature instead of a real one
A lawsuit filed by New York alleges that TikTok misled young users by providing a 'placebo' safety feature instead of a functional tool for refreshing content recommendations. The suit is part of a broader legal effort by U.S. states to hold the platform accountable for addictive design and safety failures.
Why it matters
This case highlights growing regulatory scrutiny over how social media algorithms impact the mental health and safety of minors.
TikTok gave teens and children access to a placebo safety feature instead of a real one that would have let them refresh their recommendations in an experiment, according to allegations in New York’s lawsuit against the social media platform.
Reuters reports that TikTok’s experiments involved thousands of users, including teens and children, who had opted to use safety features like “Algo Refresh,” a tool that allows users to reset their recommendations and stop seeing unwanted or potentially harmful content.
Although the users believed that they had activated the feature, their feeds didn’t change, unlike those of users who weren’t part of the experiment and had access to a fully functioning version of the tool.
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