Streams on TikTok Live were used to exploit children, according to a recently undrafted lawsuit presented by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. The lawsuit says that not only was TikTok aware that TikTok Lives exposed minors to concerning messages from adults, but the company also directly benefited from some of the exchanges through TikTok Live's virtual gift system.
Following a research by Forbes On TikTok Live, TikTok conducted its own review called “Project Meramec,” according to the lawsuit. The company found that “hundreds of thousands of children” were circumventing TikTok's age restrictions, livestreaming and interacting with adults.
Because TikTok pockets a cut of the sale of digital gifts on live streams, the company was technically making money from “transactional gifts” rather than “nudity and sexual activity” that occurred during streams. And because TikTok's algorithm favors live streams in which virtual gifts are exchanged, the lawsuit says, some of these sexually exploitative streams were also distributed more widely than they would have otherwise been distributed.
The lawsuit details another TikTok investigation, “Project Jupiter,” which investigated whether TikTok Live's gifting feature was being used to launder money. It turns out that it was. According to the lawsuit, the company discovered that “criminals were selling drugs and conducting fraudulent transactions” during live broadcasts.
When asked for comment on the lawsuit, TikTok shared the following statement:
This lawsuit ignores the number of proactive measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the safety and well-being of the community. Instead, the complaint selects misleading quotes and outdated documents and presents them out of context, distorting our commitment to the safety of our community.
We stand behind our efforts, which include: strong safety protections and screen time limits for teen accounts enabled by default, family pairing tools for parents to monitor their teens, strict live streaming requirements, and strict enforcement of our Community Guidelines on an ongoing basis.
Utah Attorney General Filed Redacted Version of This Lawsuit in June 2024following a different lawsuit from 2023 over the TikTok app's addictive design. The Utah lawsuit is not the first time the company has come under scrutiny for its handling of child safety. The FTC has investigated TikTok's handling of children's privacy, and the app's ban, which now heads to the Supreme Court on appeal, was partially driven by concerns about how the social video app could be used to influence the children.
