Kids as young as 15 were stripping on TikTok’s live feature fueled by adults who were paying for it.

That’s what TikTok learned when it launched an internal investigation after a report on Forbes. Officials at TikTok discovered that there was “a high” number of underage streamers receiving a “gift” or “coin” in exchange for stripping — real money converted into a digital currency often in the form of a plush toy or a flower.

This is one of several disturbing accounts that came to light in a trove of secret documents reviewed last week by NPR and Kentucky Public Radio. Even more troubling was that TikTok executives were acutely aware of the potential harm the app can cause teens, but appeared unconcerned.

  • nutsack@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 days ago

    I thought tic tac was going to be banned in the United States? apparently it’s not at all

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 days ago

    Would I be wrong to send this article to my two teenage nieces who are addicted to TikTok and are enabled by my sister, without telling my sister?

    EDIT: Those of you implying and STATING DIRECTLY that an uncle keeping in touch with his nieces is inherently creepy and sexually deviant are the ones who need to get their heads checked. The actual abnormal thought process is to immediately assume impropriety and pedophilia. And to THEN accuse a random person of said sickness at the drop of a hat based on a one sentence question? Get some therapy. I love my family, and am concerned for their safety, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You should all be banned.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 days ago

      Entirely possible that instead of warning them off it will give them ideas. “I can make money doing this??” Depends on what they’re like.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

    -Upton Sinclair

    And while this is indeed pretty damning for TikTok, I’d wager that you could find the same kind of documents and lack of concern squirreled away at Facebook/Instagram, Snapchat, Xitter, and so on down the drain of badly managed social media. They all make way too much money from this kind of deal, so they’re not that hyped to make it all stop.

      • RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 days ago

        Exactly this. TikTok is a threat to the democracy.

        We see how many Americans are completely dissociated from reality Having the reality controlled by the Chinese communist Party is a bad idea.