Center for Countering Digital Hate Profile picture
Dec 15, 2022 10 tweets 5 min read Read on X
BREAKING: TikTok’s algorithm is Deadly by Design.

Our new report shows how TikTok bombards new teen accounts with harmful videos about body image, mental health, eating disorders, and self-harm.

#FixTikTok

counterhate.com/research/deadl…
Our new research found TikTok recommends:

❌Videos about mental health & body image every 39s
❌Suicide content within 2.6 mins
❌Eating disorder content within 8 mins

An average US teen spends ~80 mins a day on TikTok. TikTok boosts content that impacts teens’ mental health.
Our latest report explores the experiences of 13-year-olds interested in mental health & body image setting up a new TikTok account.

We found these accounts received videos with self-harm content within 2.6 mins & could see their first piece of eating disorder content in 8 mins.
TikTok’s content was even worse when we set up ‘vulnerable’ teen accounts, whose usernames included the term ‘loseweight’.

TikTok’s algorithm served ‘vulnerable’ accounts 3 times as many harmful videos and 12 times as many self-harm & suicide videos.
Our research shows hashtags used to share eating disorder content on TikTok have over 13.2 billion video views.

#FixTikTok
TikTok’s algorithm serves vulnerable users even more harmful content in their ‘For You’ feed.

This not only impacts young people, but adults who suffer from eating disorders and mental health issues too.

TikTok is deadly by design.
Social media puts people in real danger.

The UK was shaken by Molly Russell’s case, where Instagram was named a direct contributor to the 14-year-old’s suicide. Molly engaged with posts about depression, self-harm or suicide prior to her death.

TW // suicide, self-harm
“Through public scrutiny we must shine a spotlight on this harmful content and take affirmative action to help protect the vulnerable people exposed to it.”

Spokesperson for the @mollyroseorg about our findings on TikTok’s harmful algorithm.
TikTok is putting profit over people’s safety. Millions of young and vulnerable people are targeted by TikTok’s algorithm because it’s good business.

But TikTok’s business means teens’ safety is at risk.

#FixTikTok
TikTok’s algorithm is deadly by design.

TikTok must stop enabling the spread of harmful content into young people’s feeds and #FixTikTok

act.counterhate.com/page/119282/pe…

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More from @CCDHate

Jun 26
📣WIN: YouTube has demonetized the Heartland Institute, a leading climate denial think tank.

In April, we led 24 organizations in calling on @YouTube to enforce its climate policies.

Heartland will no longer profit from ads on content designed to undermine climate action. Image
Our flagship report, The New Climate Denial, found @YouTube profits from the Heartland Institute's climate denial.

Ads were running on videos claiming renewable energy is "environmentally devastating" and that key climate science papers are "garbage".

Now that's stopped.


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Together with 24 other organizations, we called on @YouTube to enforce its policies on climate denial.

We provided evidence that Heartland Institute and others were profiting from denialist content.

Now that's stopped. counterhate.com/research/leadi…
Read 4 tweets
Jun 6
🚨NEW: We found that Midjourney keeps generating misleading images of US & EU politicians - despite its new policy to stop election disinformation.

The AI tool generated convincing deepfakes in 40% of our tests, including images of Biden, Trump & Macron.
thetimes.com/article/2c9dea…
We tested Midjourney & ChatGPT Plus with election disinfo prompts – and found a stark difference between the AI tools.

While ChatGPT generated convincing images 3.3% of the time, Midjourney’s security features were easily bypassed to create harmful disinfo ahead of big elections Image
After we showed that @midjourney could easily generate election disinfo, the platform announced a ban on users creating images of Biden & Trump ahead of the US election.

📢 Our new report shows that the platform’s new safety policy is far from enough.
apnews.com/article/midjou…
Image
Read 6 tweets
Mar 27
🚨NEW: Meta & Google are hindering access to reproductive health information in Africa, Asia & Latin America - while profiting from anti-abortion misinfo ads.

@CCDHate & @MSIchoices found platforms are misleading people seeking reliable medical info⤵️ metro.co.uk/2024/03/27/goo…
Meta has restricted @MSIchoices’ ads promoting accurate information on reproductive health services in Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria & Vietnam.

These included vital content about cervical cancer screening tests, IUDs, contraceptive pills & safe abortion. Image
Despite @MSIchoices only providing abortion services where law permits, @Meta sometimes remove their ads for vague reasons such as “sensitive content”.

In Ghana, MSI’s team said @Google has been so restrictive that they can’t use “pregnancy options” in their ad campaigns. Image
Read 9 tweets
Mar 25
🚨WIN: CCDH has had Musk’s baseless & intimidatory lawsuit against us thrown out of court! Our amazing lawyers at @KaplanHecker aided us in getting Judge Breyer to dismiss the case.

A huge win for everyone working to hold social media giants to account. counterhate.com/blog/elon-musk…
“The Court notes, too, that X Corp.’s motivation in bringing this case is evident. X Corp. has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp.”

Judge Charles Breyer in his ruling granting CCDH’s motion to dismiss. Image
“Throughout Elon Musk’s loud, hypocritical campaign of harassment, abuse, & lawfare designed to avoid taking responsibility for his own decisions, CCDH has remained quietly confident in the quality and integrity of our research & advocacy.”

@Imi_Ahmed on our win against Musk. Image
Read 6 tweets
Nov 17, 2023
🚨UPDATE: CCDH has filed a response to Musk’s X Corp’s baseless lawsuit against us.

Musk’s move is a textbook example of a wealthy, unaccountable billionaire using his power to silence his critics.

Here’s what’s happened 🧵
edition.cnn.com/2023/11/16/tec…
Image
Musk is suing us because we exposed how hate & lies skyrocketed on Twitter/X under his leadership, and he can’t disprove our findings.

The lawsuit is a clear case of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) aimed to scare us away from doing research on X. Image
Our response to Musk’s SLAPP suit, led by Robbie Kaplan & her amazing team, is clear:

Elon Musk’s charges against us are meritless, and the lawsuit is retaliatory bullying.

Read our response ⤵️
counterhate.com/blog/elon-musk…
Read 5 tweets
Nov 3, 2023
Disinformation & misinformation have been spreading like wildfire on social media in the past few weeks.

We put together 3 resources to help people navigate online spaces in times of crisis 🧵 Image
1⃣During conflicts, scrolling through our timelines can be devastating & enraging. But sharing unverified content only helps to spread misinformation & hate.

Check out some tips to navigate social media and to build information resilience.
counterhate.com/blog/how-to-na…
2⃣Online misinformation & disinformation are often used interchangeably - but they are not the same.

Read our explainer to learn the difference and how to spot them.
counterhate.com/blog/misinform…
Read 4 tweets

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