After being accused by Amnesty International of being a “toxic space” that poses a risk for young people to access depressive content, TikTok responds that 73% of the content has nothing to do with mental health.
Video platform TikTok on Thursday refuted Amnesty International’s criticism that it is a “toxic space,” defending the work it has done to create “diverse viewing experiences” and remove content that violates the company’s policies.
Amnesty International (AI) warned on Tuesday that TikTok “is becoming an increasingly toxic and addictive space”increasing the risk of young people accessing depressive content and content related to self-harm.
Amnesty International warns of the risk of young people accessing harmful content on TikTok
In response, and in a brief statement attributed to a spokesperson for the video-sharing platform, TikTok says that “when researchers reviewed the videos” analyzed by Amnesty International, they concluded that “Most of the content (73%) was not related to mental health at all”.
“Of the videos that referenced mental health, most focused on sharing lived experiences, without romanticizing them,” TikTok says.
“This demonstrates the effectiveness of TikTok’s work to create diverse viewing experiences while removing content that violates our policies,” the company said.
The AI considered that “TikTok is marketed as an online platform for entertainment, creativity and community, but it is becoming an increasingly toxic and addictive space, which can impact the self-image, mental health and well-being of younger users, running the risk of making them fall into the traps of depressive content and content related to self-harm”,
The AI noted that TikTok’s “privacy-intrusive way of generating profit tracks everything a user does on the platform to gather information about their behavior,” seeking to “predict their interests, emotional state, and well-being.”
Source: Observadora
