TikTok directs children to pornography, new report finds

TikTok’s algorithm suggests sexually explicit or outright pornographic content to children, according to new research from a human rights campaign group, Global Witness.

Global Witness researchers set up seven new TikTok accounts in the UK, posing as 13-year-olds. To do that, they used factory-reset phones with no search histories. At no point were users prompted to verify their age beyond self-declaration, despite the fact that TikTok doesn’t allow children below 13 years old to even create an account.

They preemptively set up the app’s "Restricted Mode,” which TikTok claims can be used by users, such as parents or guardians, to filter the type of content that appears in one’s feed. This includes a limit to “mature or complex themes,” including “sexually suggestive content.”

The first tests, with the set-up of three accounts, were performed ahead of the enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act on TikTok, while later tests, with the set-up of four accounts, were carried out already after the act was in place on the platform, according to the researchers. The act requires platforms to protect minors from harmful content.

The researchers then looked through the search suggestions to evaluate what kind of content was shown to their “children” accounts on TikTok.

Staggering search results

The results were quite shocking: three of the test accounts were prompted with “sexualised searches” immediately after clicking into the search bar. Some search suggestions included “very rude babes,” “unshaven girl,” and “TikTok Late Night For Adults.”

Seven of the set-up accounts were able to access pornographic content with just a small number of clicks, ranging from women flashing their underwear to hardcore pornography.

Reportedly, the showcased content attempted to evade TikTok’s protective measures by using methods like showing the video within another innocuous picture or video.

The researchers say that TikTok not only fails to prevent minors from seeing explicit videos or images but actively directs them to that type of content. They cite an example of one of their accounts – with no search history – where they managed to stumble across pornographic content just after making two clicks.

After clicking on some sexualized suggestions in the search bar, the users were prompted with more explicit content, which now included recommendations like “hardcore pawn clips,” “unrestricted websites,” and “creamy spicy corn to feel good.”

The researchers add that some of the suggested pornographic content might have possibly included minors.

“We can’t be sure of the age of the person in the video but given the seriousness of our concern we reported it to the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation, who are legally empowered to investigate possible child sexual abuse material,” Global Witness, a campaigning climate organization that also investigates big tech's impact on human rights, says.

The aftermath

Following the report, TikTok said that it took down more than 90 pieces of content and removed some of the search suggestions, both in English and other languages.

“As soon as we were made aware of these claims, we took immediate action to investigate them, remove content that violated our policies, and launch improvements to our search suggestion feature,” said a spokesperson from TikTok.

Global Witness encourages the UK regulator Ofcom to step in and investigate TikTok’s compliance with the Online Safety Act, claiming that their findings represent a breach of UK law. They explain that the problem is not solely in the lack of content moderation, but in algorithmic content recommendation itself.