Two US senators have sent a letter to TikTok executives demanding answers about an experiment the company ran that withheld a safety feature from millions of users, including a teenager who died by suicide. The senators, co-sponsors of an online child safety bill, called TikTok’s decision to conduct the test “depraved.”
The existence of the experiment, discussed in detail in a confidential 2023 company document, was reported by Bloomberg Businessweek this month. It prompted the letter sent Wednesday by Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal to TikTok Inc. Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew and Adam Presser, CEO of the company’s US spinoff.
“We write regarding disgusting new reports that TikTok knowingly withheld a critical safety measure for millions of American users — including children — in order to determine whether protecting users would impact its financial bottom-line,” the four-page letter began. The Businessweek story’s “appalling” revelations, the senators wrote, “raise serious questions about TikTok’s repeated assurances to Congress, parents and the American public that it prioritizes the safety and well-being of young people over profit.”
