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Senators call on TikTok to produce documents in response to the NPR report: NPR

FILE - Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., right, speak during a hearing, Oct. 5, 2021, in Washington.

FILE – Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., right, speak during a hearing, Oct. 5, 2021, in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP


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Alex Brandon/AP

A bipartisan pair of senators on Friday requested that TikTok turn over “all documents and information” related to child safety disclosures on the app, which were until recently hidden from the public.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote the letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in response to reporting from NPR and Kentucky Public Radio that revealed internal company documents indicating that TikTok executives were aware are of how the popular service could potentially endanger children.

The revelations appeared in passages that were said to have been redacted in fourteen separate state lawsuits filed against TikTok earlier this week. But in Kentucky, a clerical error allowed the blacked-out portions to be read when copied and pasted into a separate document.

They revealed snippets of previously unknown documents, mainly TikTok’s internal communications and presentations, and showed that the multibillion-dollar company was aware of a range of potential harm to children, even as it sometimes publicly presented information that contradicted internal research.

In their letter, Blumenthal and Blackburn described the reporting as containing “shocking revelations” about TikTok’s alleged failure to keep minors safe on the platform. “Rather than address these risks, TikTok has seemingly misled the public about the security of its platform,” the senators wrote.

Blumenthal and Blackburn, who co-sponsored the Children’s Online Safety Actthat passed the Senate but stalled in the House, gave TikTok until October 25 to provide senators with all the confidential material it provided to Kentucky authorities before that state’s top lawyer, along with 13 others, sued the platform on Tuesday.

A TikTok spokesperson did not return a request for comment on the senators’ request.

But 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.” to give.”

On Friday, 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 says. wrote on X.