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Texas judge rules TikTok misled users on child safety feature
- tolugenius 1mo ago> Liu also said Texas had established that TikTok's "Restricted Mode" did not work as advertised and exposed minors to content the company said would be filtered out. I don't use tiktok, can someone explain what the restrict mode was advertised as vs does? If it's like any social media limiter it's perhaps a softer thing (time limit) than a hard thing (ie, designed to put the onus on the user).
- ljf 1mo agoFrom TikTok: What Is Restricted Mode? Restricted Mode limits videos that may not be right for all viewers. It filters out mature or complex themes. Some features like LIVE videos and the Following feed are hidden while it is active So I can only assume that it did not filter out these things.
- ketzu 1mo agoBased on their faq: https://www.tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?category=web_account&id=7543604784121731590&lang=en https://www.tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?category=web_accou... > You shouldn't see mature or complex themes, such as: > • Profanity > • Sexually suggestive content > • Realistic violence or threatening imagery > • Firearms or weapons in an environment that isn't appropriate > • Illegal or controlled substances/drugs > • Explicit references to mature or complex themes that may reflect personal experiences or real-world events that are intended for older audiences It is clearly described as a content filter. (It also deactivates gifting on live and "following" feed.)
- boscillator 1mo agoI wonder what counts as a complex theme? Surely that is a euphemism for something, but I can't figure out what it would be and certainly don't trust TikTok to do a good job of deciding what is too complex for the youth's minds.
- williamdclt 1mo agoI'd guess not-suggestive sexuality-related content, such as sex-ed. Possibly political stuff too?
- mcmcmc 1mo agoCurious what they consider an “appropriate environment” for firearms and weapons
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- boomboomsubban 1mo agoThere are multiple Olympic events that use firearms and weapons. Or history tiktok is a thing.
- limagnolia 1mo agoI don't know what TikTok thinks, but I could imagine a target shooting sporting event as one such example.
- ryandrake 1mo agoWhenever I see a list like this, I wonder to myself: "Who gets to decide the list?" Why are we letting companies just decide on their own what's appropriate for "minors?"
- codedokode 1mo agoBecause 99% of adult people have other things to do than manually build content filters.
- intended 1mo agoYou could have, at least back when Trust and Safety roles weren't getting crushed by the AI stick. Theres tons of research which can be brought to bear, genuine problems and challenges that require deep, thoughtful work, and some of the greatest people you will work with. It is also absolute madness. There are so many insane, broken things about how safety is provided in the world, that you will feel like you are in a Elizabethan slaughter house, just at species scale. This is all excluding the world of child safety. Adding that to the mix gets you to existential nihilism quite rapidly.
- cwillu 1mo agoIIRC, it's supposed to filter out disturbing or offensive content; any time you report a comment or a video, it suggests enabling it to prevent seeing that sort of thing in the future.
- foolswisdom 1mo ago> The State’s second argument concerns TikTok’s representations about whether its “Restricted Mode” feature effectively filtered out content that might be inappropriate for minors. TikTok claimed that Restricted Mode “limits the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for all audiences” and that users “shouldn’t see mature or complex themes,” such as “profanity,” “sexually suggestive content,” “realistic violence or threatening imagery,” “firearms or weapons in an environment that isn’t appropriate,” “illegal or controlled substances/drugs,” and “explicit references to mature or complex themes that may reflect personal experiences or real-world events that are intended for older audiences.” For years, the State argues, TikTok employees internally recognized that Restricted Mode was not functioning in the way it was marketed and exposed users to a high volume of content that should have been filtered out. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/TikTok%201%20Ruling.pdf https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/ima...
- philipallstar 1mo agoTexas judge rules heroin marketed as child safe so parents could get back to doing their own heroin was not child safe after all.
- jjice 1mo agoIt blows my mind that parents let their children use these platforms with these safety features. I just found out yesterday that my cousin lets their 5ish year old have a TikTok account, but they have to allow or deny anyone who follows. How absurd is that. It doesn't block anything about what they view (I assume they relied on this safety feature), and there's no way that vetting who can follow (family and friends) is safe enough. The alternative is my younger cousin not having access to TikTok at five years old. Seems like a completely fine alternative. I imagine the average person just doesn't think about the potential implications of giving your child a TikTok account at that age.
- izzydata 1mo ago5 years old is crazy, but by the time they are 15-16 it becomes difficult to restrict them from things their peers all do. There needs to be a wider push from all parents or more of a consensus from society that these platforms are dangerous.
- Grombobulous 1mo agoYes, the platforms need to be regulated more for minors. But also, prohibition has never been a very effective method with teens. Just look at how college kids drink when they get to college. The sudden removal of parental restriction has a lot to do with that if you ask me. I think this is better approached with broad education, and stronger regulations on the platforms themselves. Part of the problem is that many parents aren’t educated themselves about what is good and bad for their kids. Examples include things like nutrition, screen time, even simple stuff like when to wean from bottles and keeping suffocation risks out of cribs.
- Forgeties79 1mo ago> Part of the problem is that many parents aren’t educated themselves about what is good and bad for their kids. Examples include things like nutrition, screen time, even simple stuff like when to wean from bottles and keeping suffocation risks out of cribs. I would argue that more is being asked now of parents than in previous decades at least. You’re asking every parent to fight multi-billion dollar international addiction platforms on top of working, parenting, etc.
- hirvi74 1mo agoWhy would anyone expect a data-funnel to the CCP to be honest? I am baffled that people even use the app.
- mcmcmc 1mo agoIt’s a data funnel to Larry Ellison and the Trump crime family now.
- hirvi74 1mo agoI feel even worse now.
- phendrenad2 1mo agoWill you ever cease to be baffled, I wonder? All the crazy things people do, and all the crazy stories on the news every single day, your life must be absolute kaleidoscopic madness of noncomprehension.
- foobar_______ 1mo ago"kaleidoscopic madness of noncomprehension". Hilarious image. Thank you for this. Not the OP but this actually describes my state sometimes. Darkly, I think the problem is I put too much faith in others.
- hirvi74 1mo ago> your life must be absolute kaleidoscopic madness of noncomprehension. Yeah, that is a pretty good way to summarize the state of life based the trajectory of current events. There is rarely a dull moment on this rock.
- vinyl7 1mo agoTiktok was sold to a US company iirc
- tencentshill 1mo ago
- pmdr 1mo agoTikTok isn't even safe for adults, let alone children.
- phendrenad2 1mo agoThe open internet isn't safe for adults, either. There is some serious misinformation out there, and it's high time we restrict the internet to only high-IQ people. (/sarc)
- pmdr 1mo agoI like to think there's a difference between being fed misinformation & braindrot day in, day out and having to look for them yourself.
- phendrenad2 1mo agoIs YouTube or Twitch really better? I don't think people are going to go "Oh well, TikTok is gone now, guess I'll finally go read through my backlog of academic papers on quantum theory"
- limagnolia 1mo agoYouTube is has a lot of great educational content. Maybe TikTok is too, I don't use it, but I find most short-form content to be of questionable value. [edited to change "full" to "has a lot of" because Youtube has plenty of brain-rot too]
- bethekidyouwant 1mo agoHas a ton of short for content too
- pmdr 1mo agoI'd say it is, if you stay away from shorts.
- consensus1 1mo agoThere's only 3 options for the internet: 1. free for all 2. locked down with ID checked age gates 3. sanitized with no adult content at all If we put responsibility for keeping kids safe on companies we will get 2 or 3. The only good option is that parents need to actually parent their kids.
- lynx97 1mo agoThis is soooo true. But unfortunately, whenever you confront a parent with their responsibilities, they immediately lash out with excuses. "How should I know." "There is already sooo much work to do." "In these times ..." All lazy ass excuses by people who obviously have no idea what responsibility they have.
- deberon 1mo agoThis comment is just a lazy attempt at changing minds. Why don’t you get off your ass and actually institute real change in the world? We’re all waiting. This is your responsibility after all, according to me. From here on out, all unresolved problems are the fault of lynx97 being a lazy slackass. So says me, with the power of a random internet person assigning responsibilities. Consider yourself confronted. I’ll await your excuses.
- lynx97 1mo agoTo stay in context and say at least something to the weird ad hominem: I deliberately didn't father any children. There is no respoinsibility you might be able to assign. Contrary to actual parents, who very well know that they have responsibilities.
- lemmetellya 1mo ago[dead]
- intrasight 1mo agoThose are not mutually exclusive. I'll take #1 and #2 combined, thank you very much. #3 is the purview of the advertisers and CC companies.
- codedokode 1mo ago> TikTok in August agreed to settle three U.S. lawsuits brought by young people who accuse social media companies of designing their platforms to be addictive and harming their mental health. I am so happy I do not live in US where an idiot harms themself and non-idiot has to pay them.
- parineum 1mo agoWhat libertarian utopia do you live in?
- cosmicgadget 1mo ago> young people We were all idiots at that point in our lives.
- codedokode 1mo agoBut we didn't sue or blame anyone for this.
- fuzzfactor 1mo agoSeems like that would be contrary to the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
- cosmicgadget 1mo agoPeople talking about addictiveness but from what I can tell this is all about how effective the content filters are. Tiktok being held liable for the efficacy of its controls is a much bigger issue than this one case.
- SuoDuanDao 1mo agoBeyond a Free-for-all, ID-checked gates, or a sanitised platform there's a fourth option: you declare what you want less of and your own software enforces it against the platform's preferences.
- hefner1456 1mo agoMy son is trying to get me to get him a phone. His is reason is because all the 5th graders have them on the bus. Im so worried about these damn phones. It seems like this is how this generation of kids loses their innocence these days. Like here is a little box full of gossip and porn and things to envy over...idk maybe im just too damn worried lol
- just60sec 1mo ago[dead]