OAKLAND, Calif. — Employees inside TikTok spent years pressing company leaders about dangers the app posed to children, from minors appearing in paid sexual livestreams to teens slipping past age limits, and many of them came away frustrated with the response, according to sworn depositions filed in federal court in March.
The testimony belongs to the sprawling federal case, begun in 2022, that bundles hundreds of lawsuits accusing TikTok, Meta, Google and Snap of building platforms that harm users under 18 while hiding the risks. Because TikTok’s cases have not gone before a jury, the depositions have not been entered as trial evidence.
A former senior safety investigator testified that she spent months trying to get top executives to act on what she described as transactional sexual content involving young users, and that her findings were sent up to the company’s chief operating officer at the time. Viewers could buy virtual gifts during Live broadcasts, which creators can convert into cash, and TikTok kept a share. An internal review cited in the filings found children ages 13 to 15 in about 112,000 Live videos in January 2022 alone.
Other testimony described gaps in age controls. Children could reach an adults-only version of the app by signing up through Google, Facebook or Instagram, according to one deposition, and a hidden link let teen accounts break away from the family pairing tools parents use to set limits. TikTok has said it alerts a parent when a teen unlinks.
The records also show the company held back from surveying the ages of its U.S. users after its 2018 merger with Musical.ly, out of concern it might have to share the results with the Federal Trade Commission. A former head of safety testified that he learned in 2020 that the recommendation engine could trap young viewers in loops of content about body image or suicide.
TikTok declined to comment on the filings and pointed to its published policies. It has said it runs an anti-money laundering program that meets international standards.
The company has already paid to settle several youth harm cases. In September, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced a deal that brings the state at least $100 million and as much as $300 million if certain conditions are met, resolving a case that had been days from trial. TikTok also agreed to a two-hour daily limit for minors in Alabama, an overnight block from midnight to 6 a.m., stronger age checks, a ban on cosmetic filters for teens and a default feed that is not personalized.
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