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

Aug 19
🚨NEW: We discovered that @YouTube is making millions of dollars in ads placed on videos promoting violence against women by notorious TikTok ‘influencer’ Andrew Tate.

YouTube, owned by @Google, needs to stop profiting from violence and hatred of women.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
Researchers identified 47 videos that showed Andrew Tate promoting hate and violence against women.

In one, for example, he encourages viewers to “grip [women] by the neck”.

9 videos played ads from major brands including @Schwarzkopf & @Vans
Tate encourages subscribers to his “Hustlers University'' scheme to repost clips of him far and wide, to drive people to his business.

This strategy has made him millions of pounds in less than 3 months.

theguardian.com/technology/202…
Read 6 tweets
Aug 10
(1/10) 🚨BREAKING: @Twitter and @Meta fail to enforce their own rules, failing to act on 99% of the most-viewed tweets with LGBTQ+ hate. @CCDHate & @HRC new report 👇 counterhate.com/research/digit…
(2/10) We found an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ tweets of 406% emerging after political proponents of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill re-branded it as an “anti-grooming” bill. Image
(3/10) CCDH and @HRC collected a sample of nearly 1 million tweets that mention the LGBTQ+ community alongside slurs like “grooming” & “pedophilia”. Image
Read 10 tweets
Jan 13
NEW: Latest CCDH research shows that nearly half of accounts that Twitter fails to remove for sending misogynist abuse to high-profile women go on to post more misogynist abuse.

Read more in @thetimes

thetimes.co.uk/article/twitte…
In September, we reported nearly 300 tweets containing misogynist abuse. 48 hours later Twitter hadn’t acted on 97% of the accounts.

After 2 months, Twitter had still failed to act on 88% of the accounts.

We looked at the abusive accounts that remained on Twitter.

We found almost 1/2 of these accounts were “reoffenders” who had gone on to post more misogynist content that breaks Twitter’s rules on hate speech against women and girls.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 30, 2021
🚨NEW: CCDH researchers investigated Facebook’s Metaverse.

In just 12 hours we found an incident of abuse every 7 minutes including

❌ Racism
❌ Harassment & Abuse
❌ Explicit content around minors.

@Meta responded to 0 reports.

Our expose in @nytimes
nytimes.com/2021/12/30/tec…
CCDH researchers found that users, including minors, are exposed to abusive behavior every seven minutes when using Facebook’s Metaverse.
We reported these incidents of racism, harassment and abuse using Facebook’s tools.

@Meta was unresponsive to a single report. Image
Read 5 tweets
Jun 6, 2021
Our research into the pandemic profiteers revealed how antisemitism has become part of the anti-vaxx playbook.

Anti-vaxxers have adopted the yellow star to promote their cause, desecrating a symbol from the Holocaust to persuade people against vaccines.

bbc.com/news/world-eur…
GreenMedInfo, founded by pandemic profiteer, Sayer Ji, drew comparisons between the Holocaust & vaccine development in a Facebook post.

It claimed vaccine rollout resembled "previous phases of human history marred by genocide” and was accompanied a yellow star reading “No Vax”.
Del Bigtree, another of the disinformation dozen, compared the plight of anti-vaxxers to that of Jews during the Holocaust by wearing a yellow star during a anti-vaxx rally.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 1, 2021
NEW: The Anti-Vaxx industry generates at least $36 million in income annually, profiting at the expense of public health by spreading misinformation.

Latest report from @CCDHate shines a light on the anti-vaxx business.

counterhate.com/pandemicprofit…
Pandemic profiteers have used Paycheck Protection Program loans to take in $1.5 million in revenue.

Leading anti-vaxx entrepreneurs took out loans, like Joseph Mercola, Sayer Ji and other organisations dedicated to campaigning against vaccines.
The anti-vaxx industry’s 62 million followers are worth $1.1 billion in revenue to Big Tech companies.

Latest research from @CCDHate highlights how Big Tech profits from the spread of misinformation.
Read 6 tweets

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