TikTok gave teens, children placebo safety feature in experiment, New York alleges - Reuters

New York Attorney General Letitia James has alleged that TikTok conducted experiments on thousands of users, including children and teenagers, by providing them with non-functional versions of safety tools. These claims were made public following the unsealing of a lawsuit on October 7, which is part of a broader legal effort involving more than two dozen states accusing the platform of designing its interface to be addictive to younger users.

The lawsuit centers on what it describes as "ghost" or placebo experiments. According to the court filings, TikTok selected thousands of users who attempted to activate safety features such as "Algo Refresh," a tool intended to reset content recommendations for those seeking to avoid potentially harmful or unwanted material. While these users believed they had successfully enabled the feature, the lawsuit claims their feeds remained unchanged, unlike those of users who received the fully functional version of the tool.

The legal action contends that TikTok has misled the public regarding its commitment to user safety. While the company maintains that safety is a top priority and that its platform is appropriate for younger audiences, the allegations suggest that TikTok knowingly prevented specific groups of users from accessing safety features they had explicitly requested.

This case is one of many legal challenges currently facing the company across the United States. TikTok has frequently sought to keep internal operational details from public view, leading to many documents in state-level cases being sealed or heavily redacted. The unsealed allegations provide a rare look into the company's internal testing practices and how they interact with user-facing safety controls.