It seems like the popular social media platform TikTok isn’t starting 2025 on a high after a new Utah lawsuit accused the company of shocking behavior related to minors.
As per the latest unredacted legal case filed by the AG from Utah, they shared more details on how TikTok Live continued to exploit minors during streaming sessions. So many children were exposed to some very alarming messages coming from adults.
However, the firm also continued to make direct profits through different exchanges despite knowing what was happening during live streaming. Common examples include the app’s popular virtual gifting system that is up for grabs during live streaming.
The news comes after a comprehensive investigation was carried out by Forbes into the app’s Live sessions. This led the company to conduct its own review as per the case dubbed Project Meramec. This is where the firm found how children in alarming figures of hundreds of thousands got exposed after bypassing the app’s age limit with ease. This meant they could not only host the live sessions but also interact with people of much older age brackets.
The company does pocket a giant share of digital gift sales when it comes to live streaming. This is why despite knowing everything, it chose to remain hush as profits continued to soar in the name of transactional gifting. Common themes covered included explicit activity and nudity.
The algorithm already favors the likes of livestreams where virtual gifts keep getting exchanged as per the lawsuit. These continued to be rolled out more widely than seen otherwise. Furthermore, the case alleges more details about the company’s other investigation called Project Jupiter that was looking at whether the app’s live gifting offers were utilized for unlawful means such as money laundering. When the investigation was over, it was revealed to be guilty of the act.
The company found how criminals were busy selling drugs and running major fraud schemes during these livestreaming episodes. When the app was reached to comment on the alarming accusations stated in the case, it published a statement that spoke about how the lawsuit ignored some important proactive measures that TikTok chose to implement voluntarily.
This would ensure greater support for the safety of the community and its well-being. Instead, only its negative points were highlighted using misleading quotes with evidence of old files that are presented in a disturbing and out-of-context manner. This impacts its commitment to the community’s safety, it went on to share.
TikTok hopes to continue providing the best and safest protections for its users including minors with restrictions that limit screen time and other tools where parents offer supervision to their scrolling activities. This also entailed stricter and more robust measures for live streaming and stringent enforcement of community guidelines daily.
The case was filed in June of last year after another case spoke about the app’s addictive design and features.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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As per the latest unredacted legal case filed by the AG from Utah, they shared more details on how TikTok Live continued to exploit minors during streaming sessions. So many children were exposed to some very alarming messages coming from adults.
However, the firm also continued to make direct profits through different exchanges despite knowing what was happening during live streaming. Common examples include the app’s popular virtual gifting system that is up for grabs during live streaming.
The news comes after a comprehensive investigation was carried out by Forbes into the app’s Live sessions. This led the company to conduct its own review as per the case dubbed Project Meramec. This is where the firm found how children in alarming figures of hundreds of thousands got exposed after bypassing the app’s age limit with ease. This meant they could not only host the live sessions but also interact with people of much older age brackets.
The company does pocket a giant share of digital gift sales when it comes to live streaming. This is why despite knowing everything, it chose to remain hush as profits continued to soar in the name of transactional gifting. Common themes covered included explicit activity and nudity.
The algorithm already favors the likes of livestreams where virtual gifts keep getting exchanged as per the lawsuit. These continued to be rolled out more widely than seen otherwise. Furthermore, the case alleges more details about the company’s other investigation called Project Jupiter that was looking at whether the app’s live gifting offers were utilized for unlawful means such as money laundering. When the investigation was over, it was revealed to be guilty of the act.
The company found how criminals were busy selling drugs and running major fraud schemes during these livestreaming episodes. When the app was reached to comment on the alarming accusations stated in the case, it published a statement that spoke about how the lawsuit ignored some important proactive measures that TikTok chose to implement voluntarily.
This would ensure greater support for the safety of the community and its well-being. Instead, only its negative points were highlighted using misleading quotes with evidence of old files that are presented in a disturbing and out-of-context manner. This impacts its commitment to the community’s safety, it went on to share.
TikTok hopes to continue providing the best and safest protections for its users including minors with restrictions that limit screen time and other tools where parents offer supervision to their scrolling activities. This also entailed stricter and more robust measures for live streaming and stringent enforcement of community guidelines daily.
The case was filed in June of last year after another case spoke about the app’s addictive design and features.
Read next: Image Licensing Giants Getty Images Holdings and Shutterstock Consider Merging As Shares Plummet to New High
