Internal documents revealed by a U.S. public radio station on Friday indicate that TikTok teams recognized the platform’s harmful impact on young users but refrained from implementing significant preventive measures to avoid reducing traffic.
These documents, referenced in a subpoena issued by Kentucky’s attorney general, are part of a lawsuit filed by 13 states and Washington D.C., which accuses TikTok of harming the mental health of young users. The papers highlight TikTok’s awareness of the platform’s addictive nature and its recommendation algorithm, which presents users with a continuous stream of short videos.
One TikTok executive reportedly emphasized the need to be “cognizant” of how the app affects users’ sleep, eating habits, physical movement, and social interactions.
Kentucky Public Radio reconstructed the internal exchanges before a judge ordered the removal of the documents from public access.
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s internal research found users could become addicted after watching as few as 260 videos. The research also linked “compulsive usage” to negative mental health outcomes, such as impaired analytical thinking, memory retention, contextual understanding, conversational skills, empathy, and heightened anxiety.
Although TikTok has introduced features like parental controls and a one-hour screen time limit for younger users, the documents suggest that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, did not prioritize improving these tools despite knowing their limitations.
A TikTok project manager reportedly stated, “Our goal is not to reduce the time spent” on the platform.
In response to the documents’ release, TikTok condemned the publication of sealed court information as “highly irresponsible,” arguing that the lawsuit selectively misrepresents its commitment to user safety by using outdated and misleading quotes.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit comes as TikTok faces potential bans in the U.S. over allegations that its ownership by China-based ByteDance poses a national security risk. The U.S. government claims that TikTok enables Beijing to collect data and spread propaganda, accusations denied by both China and the company.
