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TikTok’s research reportedly acknowledges negative effects on teens
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TikTok’s research reportedly acknowledges negative effects on teens

Court documents show that TikTok executives are aware of the potential harm the app can cause to teens, according to reporting from NPR and Kentucky Public Radio.

Fourteen U.S. attorneys general sued TikTok earlier this week, claiming the app harms children’s mental health. Much of the material in those packs was redacted, but reporters were able to read some of that material by copying and pasting.

According to the Kentucky lawsuit, the company’s own research shows that “compulsive use correlates with a host of negative mental health effects, such as loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, depth of conversation, empathy, and increased anxiety.”

Additionally, the lawsuit includes internal communications surrounding a feature that allows parents to limit their children’s TikTok use — apparently the feature only reduced usage by an average of 1.5 minutes per day, with the company instead measuring its success based on “ increasing public trust in the TikTok platform through media reporting.”

A TikTok spokesperson said it was “grossly irresponsible” for NPR to publish excerpts from the lawsuit, which he claimed “cherry picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to undermine our commitment to the safety of the misrepresent community.”