People work at the TikTok Inc. building in Culver City, California, on March 11.

Damian Dovarganes/AP

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Damian Dovarganes/AP

Children as young as 15 were stripping on TikTok’s live feature, fueled by adults who paid for it.

TikTok learned this when it started an internal investigation following a report on Forbes. Officials at TikTok found there were “a large” number of underage streamers who received a “gift” or “coin” in exchange for stripping – real money converted into a digital currency, often in the form of a hug or a flower.

This is one of the disturbing stories that emerged in a trove of classified documents reviewed last week by NPR and Kentucky Public Radio. Even more troubling, TikTok executives were well aware of the potential harm the app could do to teens, but seemed unconcerned about it.

The information came after a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by fourteen attorneys general, which led to government officials suing the company on Tuesday.

Here are a few more of the most serious and previously unreported allegations against TikTok, the wildly popular app used by about 170 million people in the US

You can be ‘hooked’ in 35 minutes or 260 videos

TikTok quantified the precise amount of viewing it takes for someone to develop a habit: 260 videos.

Kentucky authorities note that while it may seem like a lot, TikTok videos can only be a few seconds long.

“So within 35 minutes there is a good chance that an average user will become addicted to the platform,” the state researchers concluded.

TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes beautiful people

When TikTok’s main video feed saw “a large number of… unattractive topics” filling everyone’s screens, the app changed its algorithm to boost users the company deemed beautiful, according to an internal report from Kentucky researchers.

In fact, TikTok’s documents revealed that the company went so far as to tweak its algorithm to reduce the visibility of people it deemed unattractive, and “took active steps to promote a narrow beauty standard, even though this would could have a negative impact on their young users,” Kentucky authorities wrote in the previously redacted documents.

Restrictions on TikTok use had little impact

The app allows parents to set time limits for their children’s use, ranging from 40 minutes to two hours per day. TikTok has even created a tool that sets the default time prompt to 60 minutes per day to combat excessive and compulsive use of the social media app.

After testing, TikTok found the tool had little impact – accounting for a drop of about a minute and a half in usage, from about 108.5 minutes per day to 107 minutes with the tool. According to the complaint, TikTok did not re-investigate this issue.

One document shows a TikTok project manager speaking candidly about the real purpose of the time limit feature: “to increase public trust in the TikTok platform through media reporting,” the TikTok employee said. Our goal is not to reduce time commitment.”

95% of smartphone users under the age of 17 use TikTok

A presentation to top company executives revealed that an estimated 95% of smartphone users under the age of 17 used TikTok at least once a month. This led one company employee to declare that it had “hit a ceiling among young users.”

TikTok considered itself in an “arms race for attention,” according to a 2021 internal presentation.

An internal document about users under the age of 13 instructed moderators not to take action on reports of underage users unless their bio specifically states they are 13 or younger.

Under federal law, social media companies cannot collect data from children under the age of 13 unless the companies have express parental consent.

Compulsive use of TikTok disrupts children’s normal lives

The documents show that TikTok was aware that it was “interfering with essential personal responsibilities, such as getting enough sleep, work/school responsibilities, and connecting with loved ones.”

An unnamed TikTok executive put it in stark terms, saying the reason kids watch TikTok is because the power of the app’s algorithm keeps them from “sleeping, eating, moving around the room and to look someone in the eye’.

Response from TikTok, senators and a watchdog group

On Thursday, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek criticized NPR for reporting on information now under a court seal, claiming the material “cherries misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety give.”

However, some advocacy groups welcomed the revelations.

The Oversight Project, a social media watchdog group, said TikTok has not been honest about how safe children are on the app. “These unredacted documents prove that TikTok knows exactly what it is doing to our children – and the rot goes all the way to the top,” the group wrote on X.

Also on Friday, a bipartisan pair of senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote a letter to TikTok asking the company for “all documents and information” related to child safety disclosures to transfer. the app, citing NPR’s report.