TikTok Algorithm Allows Explicit Content for Teenagers, Bots Serving Up Videos for Minors to Watch

TikTok's Algorithm has been allowing teenagers to see explicit content, showing these said minors videos related to it despite being potentially dangerous and harmful to their minds. The investigation has exposed the social media company, showing how the platform has been allowing videos to be crawled by bots for the "For You" tab.

The short video sharing application is known for its crazy challenges that have been inviting people to take part and do it for their feed to gain viral status and popularity. Moreover, the platform is also known to "extinguish" or ban some of these challenges as they prove to be harmful and dangerous to the public.

TikTok Algorithm: Explicit Content

According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a flaw in TikTok's algorithm that needs correction and a fix, and this is where explicit content is widely available to users under the age of eligibility. Anyone can indeed access any content on the internet and not get any restrictions from websites or platforms.

However, TikTok has control of its viewers, audiences, and content, which is why this is not an excuse for social media to be allowing children to have stakes over these kinds of content. It was said that WSJ's investigation only used "OnlyFans" as the keyword to search, and it already led to several sexual contents that are too much for a minor.

Other types of content like violence and alcoholic videos are also seen on the "For You" page after the search, and it changed drastically over 15 minutes from the time they searched and stayed.

The bots of the videos would crawl the database of TikTok, where users would have readily available content the next time they browse.

Minors Remain Exposed

Up to date, minors remain exposed to this kind of content and would still appear on the results whenever they search for certain keywords that are heavily related to this content.

According to Daily Mail UK, TikTok's algorithm interprets that the longer a person spends on specific content, the more often it would appear in the feed.

Currently, TikTok has not addressed this issue nor reached out to WSJ for information about this. The accounts which were made for this experiment are around ages 12 to 17, which are known to be the age of curiosity and exploration via the internet.

TikTok App: Dangerous to Children?

As mentioned earlier, challenges on TikTok are also dangerous for adults, and what more to children, especially if they want to be a part of the trend. Considering that its algorithm has a flaw, TikTok can be manipulated into an app that would showcase unwanted content for a child.

This means that parents should be careful in the kind of content that their children access on TikTok, and the internet, in general.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Richard