Episode summary
TikTok Safety Feature Investigation | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Olivia Carville
Summary
Bloomberg’s investigation centers on a confidential TikTok document showing the company withheld a safety feature from about 15 million U.S. users, including a teenage user who later died by suicide. Olivia Carville says the review was triggered after the family of Chase NASCAR, a 16-year-old Long Island student and athlete, found his account filled with increasingly depressing and suicide-related videos.
The document, according to Carville, shows TikTok had identified that repetitive recommendations could trap users in a harmful “filter bubble,” so it designed a feature to interrupt that cycle with more varied content. But the company held back 10% of U.S. users as a control group to test engagement, and the safety feature was withheld “by design.” Carville says that wording matters because it echoes the language used in lawsuits accusing social media platforms of being engineered for addiction.
The report lands amid sweeping litigation: more than 4,000 personal injury lawsuits, 1,200 school district cases, and suits from 42 state attorneys general. TikTok told Bloomberg it is committed to teen safety and has 40,000 people on trust and safety, but Carville argues the document shows growth and safety can conflict, with companies often prioritizing user retention over protection.
Key takeaways
- Olivia Carville says TikTok withheld a safety feature from 15 million U.S. users, including teens, as part of an experiment to measure engagement.
- The document describes Chase NASCAR’s account as being pushed into a “filter bubble” of suicide and self-harm content.
- Carville says TikTok’s decision to withhold the safeguard “by design” is important because it aligns with litigation alleging platforms are addictive by design.
- TikTok says it remains deeply committed to teen safety, and Carville notes the company has 40,000 people on trust and safety and more than a billion dollars invested.
- The reporting sits inside a larger legal wave that includes more than 4,000 personal injury lawsuits, 1,200 school district cases, and 42 state attorneys general.
Notable quotes
“They withhold 15 million Americans from this safeguard because they want to test engagement”
“that this teenage boy's account, this very normal teenage boy was pushed into a filter bubble of suicide and self harm content”
“for the first time we're seeing a social media platform use that same language that they experimented on millions of US users including teenagers”
“because right now in US courts, there is a broad litigation alleging that social media platforms are dangerous and addictive by design”
“Tik Tok does not believe that use of the platform has caused users to commit suicide”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts radio news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
We do want to get to a Bloomberg Business Week exclusive original reporting. It's on a story about a confidential document that says kept a safety feature from millions of Tik Tok users, about 15 million by design as part of an experiment. One of those users died by suicide.
There is a lot of careful reporting here to get to the story by the award-winning and recognized Bloomberg News investigative reporter Olivia Carville. She joins us here on set. This story, by the way, is also today's Bloomberg Big Take.
Um Olivia, good to have you here. This story is about a document. What is this document?
What does it tell us?
Thank you so much for having me on. So, I think it's important to have context around this document. And for that, we've got to go back in time.
Early 2022, a 16-year-old boy from Long Island took his own life. He died by suicide. After this happened, his mom, who didn't understand, went searching through his social media accounts trying to find like a sense of what had happened to him.
When she found his Tik Tok account, she was shocked by the fact that the algorithm was sending him non-stop, distressing, depressing videos. Many of them encouraging suicide. A year later, I reach out to the company because I'm writing a story about this young boy and the way the algorithm was sending him so much sad content.
And I asked the company, "What had happened to Chase NASCAR's account? Why is the algorithm sending him all of these videos about suicide? that sparked an internal review at Tik Tok.
It's an extraordinary review where they do a deep dive into his watch history, what he was seeing in the weeks, days, and hours before he died.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- tiktok safety
- online child protection
- social media warning labels
- congressional hearings
- lawsuits
Companies and tickers mentioned
- TikTok
Watch the episode
Watch “TikTok Safety Feature Investigation | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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