Kids as young as 15 were stripping on TikTok’s live feature fueled by adults who were paying for it.
That’s what TikTok learned when it launched an internal investigation after a report on Forbes. Officials at TikTok discovered that there was “a high” number of underage streamers receiving a “gift” or “coin” in exchange for stripping — real money converted into a digital currency often in the form of a plush toy or a flower.
This is one of several disturbing accounts that came to light in a trove of secret documents reviewed last week by NPR and Kentucky Public Radio. Even more troubling was that TikTok executives were acutely aware of the potential harm the app can cause teens, but appeared unconcerned.
Would I be wrong to send this article to my two teenage nieces who are addicted to TikTok and are enabled by my sister, without telling my sister?
Wrong according to whom? Not me. I would do the same.
Your sister might not agree though.
I try not to talk to her for any reason
Understood. I still talk to my brother, but he’s kind of an asshole.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
-Upton Sinclair
And while this is indeed pretty damning for TikTok, I’d wager that you could find the same kind of documents and lack of concern squirreled away at Facebook/Instagram, Snapchat, Xitter, and so on down the drain of badly managed social media. They all make way too much money from this kind of deal, so they’re not that hyped to make it all stop.
Oh for certain. They’re all guilty.
