Court documents reveal TikTok's time limit tool doesn't reduce usage among teens, NPR reports

According to documents accidentally disclosed as part of a major lawsuit and a company analysis, TikTok is not actively working to limit teen app use.

KPR and NPR reported Friday that TikTok executives “speak candidly about a range of dangers to children” on the video-sharing app, including barely functioning time-management tools to reduce app use.

Teens who use TikTok for hours may harm their mental health. After public scrutiny over the app’s effects on vulnerable people, TikTok launched time management tools for under-18s. If a 60-minute limit is reached, users must enter a passcode and make an active choice to extend their app time.

According to internal documents obtained by NPR and KPR, TikTok executives evaluated the tool based on its ability to increase “public trust in the TikTok platform through media coverage” rather than app usage time.

In the documents, a TikTok project manager said their “goal is not to reduce time spent,” while another said they want to “contribute to DAUs [daily active users] and retention” of users.

TikTok is being sued by 14 prosecutors for allegedly harming children’s mental health.
The 14 solicitors general said in a lawsuit filed earlier this week that the tool only reduced daily usage by 1.5 minutes and the company did not fix it.

Videos on TikTok encourage users to take breaks. One executive in the documents called them “useful conversation starters” with lawmakers but admitted they are “not entirely effective.”

“Unfortunately, this complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety,” a TikTok spokesperson told CNN. We actively remove suspected underage users and have voluntarily launched safety features like default screen time limits, family monitoring, and privacy for under-16s. We support these efforts.”

A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging that the platform has “addicted” youth and harmed their mental health.

The lawsuits challenge TikTok’s endless content feed, ‘challenge’ videos that encourage risky behaviour, and late-night push notifications that attorneys general say can disrupt children’s sleep.

The Kentucky attorney general accidentally filed unredacted versions of its TikTok lawsuit on Friday, according to NPR and KPR. The complaint was sealed by a state judge “to ensure that settlement documents and related information, confidential business information and trade secrets, and other protected information were not improperly disseminated,” NPR reported

“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe are inaccurate and misleading,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said. “We are proud of and committed to protecting teens and will continue to update and improve our product. We have strong safeguards, proactively remove suspicious underage users, and voluntarily launched safety features.”

Court documents reveal TikTok’s time limit tool doesn’t reduce usage among teens, NPR reports

By knl9j

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