Current and former workers are speaking out against TikTok, claiming the social media app made money from illegal child sexual exploitation videos. According to recent news reports, staff members clearly pointed out these serious safety problems to upper management, but leadership failed to fix things. Instead of deleting the harmful content and reporting it to the police, the company allegedly let it stay online to make more money.
Internal reports show leadership ignored warnings to protect young users
Workers reported that minors were showing up in inappropriate videos on the app. People watching could pay to access these live videos using digital coins, and the company would keep a chunk of that money. Investigators point out that by taking a cut of these digital gifts, the app directly made a profit from illegal acts.
The app is still one of the top downloads on the App Store, and millions of teenagers use it every day. But leaked internal papers show the company knew kids were finding easy ways to beat the age limits. Staff warned that young users were getting around safety filters to see adult videos and stopping their parents from seeing what they were doing on the app.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Even with all these warnings, bosses reportedly decided against checking how old their users actually were. The leaked papers suggest they skipped this step because they did not want to hand that data over to the government. While Apple and other tech brands try to push for better safety rules, this case shows a clear problem when companies put making money ahead of keeping kids safe online.
Discussion