🔗 Share this article

According to a new study, TikTok has been observed to guide children's accounts to pornographic content after only a few taps.

How the Study Was Conducted

An advocacy group created simulated profiles using a 13-year-old's birth date and turned on the "restricted mode" setting, which is designed to limit exposure to adult-oriented content.

Investigators discovered that TikTok recommended sexualized and explicit search terms to multiple test profiles that were established on unused smartphones with no previous activity.

Alarming Recommendation Features

Keywords proposed under the "recommended for you" feature included "very very rude skimpy outfits" and "explicit content featuring women" – and then escalated to terms such as "explicit adult videos".

Regarding three of the accounts, the inappropriate search terms were proposed instantly.

Fast Track to Adult Material

Following just a few taps, the investigators came across adult videos including revealing content to penetrative sex.

Global Witness claimed that the content sought to avoid detection, often by presenting the content within an harmless image or video.

For one account, the process took two taps after accessing the app: one tap on the search bar and then a second on the proposed query.

Regulatory Context

Global Witness, whose scope includes researching technology companies' influence on public safety, reported performing several experimental rounds.

The first group occurred prior to the enforcement of minor safety measures under the British online safety legislation on the 25th of July, and additional tests after the measures took effect.

Alarming Results

Investigators stated that two videos featured someone who appeared to be below the age of consent and had been submitted to the Internet Watch Foundation, which monitors online child sexual abuse material.

Global Witness claimed that the video platform was in non-compliance of the UK safety legislation, which requires digital platforms to block children from encountering dangerous material such as adult material.

Government Position

An official representative for Britain's media watchdog, which is tasked with monitoring the act, said: "We acknowledge the research behind this investigation and will examine its findings."

The regulator's guidelines for complying with the legislation state that online services that pose a significant danger of displaying dangerous material must "modify their programming" to block dangerous material from minors' content streams.

The app's policies prohibit explicit material.

TikTok's Statement

The video platform said that following notification from the organization, it had taken down the offending videos and made changes to its suggestion feature.

"As soon as we were made aware of these assertions, we acted promptly to investigate them, take down videos that contravened our rules, and introduce upgrades to our search suggestion feature," stated a spokesperson.