New York lawsuit alleges TikTok tested placebo safety feature

New York’s unsealed lawsuit alleges TikTok repeatedly gave thousands of users, including children and teenagers, nonfunctional versions of a safety feature in 2023 while studying app use and advertising effects. TikTok denies the allegations, which have not been independently established in the material reviewed here. The complaint says the tests involved Algo Refresh, a tool intended to let users reset video recommendations to avoid unwanted or potentially harmful content. Some users who tried to activate it allegedly received a placebo version and believed it was working, while their feeds remained unchanged. The lawsuit says TikTok compared their experience with that of users who received the working feature, examining how long people stayed on the app and the effect on advertising revenue. The filing also alleges that TikTok described Algo Refresh as resetting recommendations when the change was temporary. An employee on the company’s Digital Well Being team raised concerns about placebo testing, according to the complaint, saying the approach conflicted with the feature’s purpose of providing transparency and control over recommendations.