China’s TikTok admits in its own research that “compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety.” The internal documents have been revealed as part of a lawsuit against the Chinese platform.
A lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of Kentucky claims that TikTok users can become “addicted” to the Chinese app in just 35 minutes, and that the app’s own internal research has found that “compulsive usage” of TikTok can result in “a slew of negative mental health effects,” according to a report by NPR.
“While this may seem substantial, TikTok videos can be as short as 8 seconds and are played for viewers in rapid-fire succession, automatically,” Kentucky authorities said. “Thus, in under 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform.”
Moreover, “compulsive usage also interferes with essential personal responsibilities like sufficient sleep, work/school responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones,” the lawsuit adds.
Another internal document states that TikTok — which estimates that 95 percent of smartphone users under the age of 17 use the Chinese app — knows the app is designed to keep young people on the platform, and that its features successfully lead to users having a constant and irresistible urge to continue opening the app.
The report also found that while TikTok lets parents place time limits on their kids’ app usage, internal documents show that the Chinese app measures the success of this tool by how it was “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage,” rather than how it limited teens’ usage of the app.
Court documents also allege that TikTok demoted people it deemed unattractive, despite the Chinese app being aware of the harm its beauty filters can cause young users. An internal document reportedly complains that TikTok showed “a high volume” of “not attractive subjects” on users’ main video feed.
“By changing the TikTok algorithm to show fewer ‘not attractive subjects’ in the For You feed, [TikTok] took active steps to promote a narrow beauty norm even though it could negatively impact their Young Users,” the Kentucky authorities wrote.
Additionally, a TikTok executive reportedly admitted that the app’s algorithm could deprive young users of certain “opportunities,” such as sleep, eating, moving around, and even “looking at someone in the eyes.”
“I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities,” a TikTok executive said. “And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at someone in the eyes.”
TikTok also pushes users into filter bubbles known as “painhub” and “sadnotes” — referring to an algorithm that continuously displays “negative” content — and the app’s content moderation fails to block material promoting self-harm and eating disorders.
A “filter bubble” refers to an algorithm that begins showing users similar type of content, failing to expose them to different information and alternative perspectives.
TikTok defines filter bubbles as when a user “encounters only information and opinions that conform to and reinforce their own beliefs, caused by algorithms that personalize an individual’s online experience,” according to internal documents.
“After following several ‘painhub’ and ‘sadnotes’ accounts, it took me 20 mins to drop into ‘negative’ filter bubble,” one TikTok employee admitted, according to NPR. “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 TikTok employee reportedly acknowledged, “There are a lot of videos mentioning suicide.”
The Chinese app is also slow to remove users under the age of 13, despite kids that young not being allowed to create TikTok accounts, NPR reported.
These revelations are simply the latest questionable disclosures regarding China’s popular TikTok app.
As Breitbart News reported, TikTok is widely considered Chinese surveillance and psyops thinly veiled as a social media platform, and it’s parent company, ByteDance, is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Earlier this year, the U.S. government passed sell-or-ban legislation ordering the Chinese company to sell the app by January or face a ban in the United States.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
