TikTok and Risks to Minors

This report documents an evaluation of systems on TikTok with to evaluate the risks posed to minors, including:

• TikTok’s Content Moderation System;
• Understandability of the platform for younger users;
• TikTok’s safety-by-design settings;
• TikTok’s ad manager systems.

We find multiple issues that potentially do no comply with the DSA including:

• TikTok under-moderates both pro-restrictive eating disorder content, pro-suicide, and/or pro-self harm materials;
• There is a muted response to these materials when TikTok become aware of them via user-reporting system, and TikTok failed to respond to the majority of pro-restrictive eating disorder content and pro-suicide, and/or pro-self harm materials when they became aware of it;
• A 13 year old would likely not understand the design and functioning of TikTok at the point of signing on;
• Safety by design settings are not the highest possible. 16-year-olds are not offered best practice privacy protections onTikTok. There also appears to be a “between country” variation on TikTok, with 16-year-olds treated differently in different countries;
• Access to safety-centres and help tools is not routinely accessible to young people in their first languages;
• Underaged targeting by age parameter selections is not completely removed from TikTok’s ad manager system.