A confidential internal report obtained by Bloomberg reveals that TikTok deliberately excluded approximately 15 million U.S. users from a safety algorithm update during early 2022. The platform withheld the feature as part of an experimental control group while the remaining 90 percent of users received the updated system designed to prevent repetitive streams of harmful content related to mental health crises.
The excluded users included 16-year-old Chase Nasca from Long Island, who died by suicide in February 2022. An investigation into Nasca’s account showed his feed had become saturated with videos about depression, self-harm, and suicide. During his final two weeks on the platform, roughly 73 percent of the 7,563 videos recommended to him contained mental health-related themes. Because Nasca was part of the control group, TikTok’s safety measures designed to interrupt such patterns never activated on his account.
TikTok conducted the experiment to measure whether disrupting filter bubbles would impact user engagement metrics. The company framed the decision as balancing user safety against its ability to track the algorithm’s effectiveness. After reviewing Nasca’s case more than a year following his death, TikTok recommended reducing the control group from 10 percent to less than 1 percent, though this would have still left millions without protection.
The disclosure intensifies legal challenges facing the platform. Nasca’s family is appealing the dismissal of their wrongful death lawsuit, and thousands of similar cases are proceeding through courts nationwide, testing whether platforms bear responsibility for design decisions harming young users.
Originally reported by Mashable →
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