New York Alleges TikTok Gave Teens and Children Placebo Safety Features
New York’s updated, unsealed lawsuit alleges TikTok gave thousands of users, including children and teens, nonworking “placebo” versions of safety tools such as Algo Refresh. TikTok says it regularly tests features and provided a statement to The Verge.
The feature at issue is Algo Refresh, a tool that allows users to reset their recommendations and stop seeing unwanted or potentially harmful content. In the experiment described in the lawsuit, users believed they had activated the feature, but their feeds did not change, unlike users outside the experiment who had access to a fully working version of the tool. The experiment involved thousands of users, including teens and children, according to Reuters.
The lawsuit also claims TikTok misled users about Algo Refresh, presenting it as a permanent reset rather than a temporary one, The Verge reported. New York further claims that a TikTok product manager for Digital Well Being internally raised concerns about the test, writing, “This feature is about algorithm transparency and control [...] A placebo group completely conflicts with that.”
New York’s case is one of more than two dozen lawsuits brought by states that accuse TikTok of designing its platform to encourage addictive use among children and of misleading users about its safety, TechCrunch reported. The updated complaint adds new allegations to a lawsuit originally filed in 2024.
TikTok spokesperson Nathaniel Brown said in a statement to The Verge, “We continuously make improvements to our platform which means that, like most companies, we regularly test new products and features to validate the experience and understand how they work in the real world.” TechCrunch, citing Reuters, reported the same statement and said TikTok did not immediately return its own request for comment.
The lawsuit also claims that TikTok conducted other experiments. Bloomberg reported in June that one such experiment withheld a safety feature from 15 million U.S. users, including a teenager who later died by suicide, according to TechCrunch. The Verge reported that New York’s newly unsealed claims cite other tests as well, including one in which TikTok allegedly withheld a safety update to its algorithm from some users.
The newly unsealed allegations say TikTok’s experiment effectively blocked selected users from accessing features such as the option to reset their algorithm. Users in the test believed they had activated the feature, but their feeds did not change, unlike users who received the fully working version, according to Reuters. The lawsuit claims the placebo group conflicted with the stated purpose of Algo Refresh as a tool for algorithm transparency and control.
Editor's Summary
New York’s updated lawsuit alleges TikTok tested nonworking “placebo” safety features on thousands of users, including minors, and misled users about Algo Refresh. TikTok says it regularly tests products and features and provided a statement defending its practices. The case is among more than two dozen state lawsuits over child safety and platform design.