TikTok Shares Results of Deep Dive on Potentially Harmful Challenges, Self-Harm Hoaxes

TikTok kicked off a global project earlier this year to gather information on its younger users’ engagement with potentially harmful challenges and hoaxes on its platform and other social networks, consulting with experts and conducting a survey of more than 10,000 parents, teachers and teens in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam. Head of safety public policy for Europe Alexandra Evans explained in a blog post Wednesday, “While not unique to any one platform, the effects and concerns are felt by all—and we wanted to learn how we might develop even more effective responses as we work to better support teens, parents and educators. We also hope to contribute to a wider understanding of this area, so today we want to share more on our research and some of the steps we are taking in response.” TikTok asked teens in the survey to describe the risk level of a recent online challenge they had seen, and 48% believed they were safe, calling them fun or lighthearted. A total of 32% said they included some risk but were safe, while 14% called them risky and dangerous and just 0.3% considered them to be very dangerous. Respondents said they evaluated the risks by watching videos of other people taking part in challenges, reading comments and speaking to friends, and 46% said they wanted access to "good information on risks more widely" and "information on what is too far." The platform also addressed suicide and self-harm hoaxes, saying they “attempt to make people believe something frightening that isn’t true and encourages viewers to take part in games that result in self-harm. Evans wrote, “Once planted, these hoaxes largely spread through warning messages encouraging others to alert as many people as possible to avoid perceived negative consequences.” TikTok’s research found that 31% of teens exposed to these hoaxes experienced negative impacts, and 63% of that group said that impact was on their mental health due to the nature of the content. On the parent and caregiver side, 56% of respondents said they wouldn’t mention a self-harm hoax unless their teen mentioned it first, while 37% felt that it was difficult to discuss hoaxes without prompting interest in them. TikTok commissioned independent safeguarding agency Praesidio Safeguarding to compile a report on key findings and recommendations, written by founder and director Zoe Hilton, and the platform then convened a panel of 12 leading youth safety experts from around the world to review the report and provide input. The company also partnered with Richard Graham, a clinical child psychiatrist specializing in healthy adolescent development, and Gretchen Brion-Meisels, a behavioral scientist specializing in risk prevention in adolescence. TikTok said that based on the findings in the report, it will begin removing alarmist warnings about self-harm hoaxes in order to avoid making those hoaxes appear real. Content of that type is already removed, and steps are in place to limit its spread. The company also worked with Graham, Brion-Meisels and The Net Safety Collaborative founder and executive director Anne Collier on a new resource in its Safety Center dedicated to challenges and hoaxes, as well as with Graham and Brion-Meisels on improving the language used in warning labels shown to people who attempt to search TikTok for content related to harmful challenges or hoaxes. Evans concluded, “As we started our initial conversations about this project, we talked with online safety experts and we kept hearing how they felt caregivers, teachers and NGOs (non-government organizations) weren't sure how to intervene effectively. We hope the work we've undertaken with these world-leading experts can help make a thoughtful contribution to this topic that others can draw insights and opportunities from, as well. For our part, we know the action's we're taking now are just some of the important work that needs to be done across our industry, and we will continue to explore and implement additional measures on behalf of our community.”

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TikTok Shares Results of Deep Dive on Potentially Harmful Challenges, Self-Harm Hoaxes

48% of teens responding to a survey believed they were safe, calling them fun or lighthearted

David Cohen

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David Cohen