2024-01-20 11:06:00
TikTok, a Chinese social network developed by ByteDance, is being sued by the state of Iowa, in the United States, for allegedly exposing minors to inappropriate content. The accusation states that the platform violates child protection laws by allowing videos with nudity, violence, drugs and obscene language to be viewed by teenagers.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird argues that this age group’s exposure to videos with inappropriate language is frequent and there are no adequate barriers to moderation. This directly contradicts the argument used by TikTok, which claims that it is “infrequent” for inappropriate posts to be displayed on the app.
Bird directly cites the App Store, Apple’s application store, where TikTok appears with an indicative rating of 12 years old, suggesting that this is the minimum age to use the app. In an investigation carried out by the state, authorities identified that algorithms circumvent parental control by recommending videos with content marked as inappropriate.
The action mentions some examples of videos presented in the underage feed. Among them are provocative posts of women in bikinis dancing sensually. There is even a camera focus on the models’ intimate parts; the same goes for videos of men, who appear shirtless or just wearing swim trunks.
The court asks that TikTok’s classification be reset to 17 years old, as it was found that there were videos inappropriate for children and teenagers even with parental features activated.
The application it has more than 1 billion monthly active users, with around 100 million in the United States. The social network allows people to create and share short videos with music, effects and filters.
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