Senators demand answers from TikTok over experiment that disabled safeguards

Two senators have given TikTok a deadline to answer questions about an experiment that withheld a safety feature from 15 million U.S. users, including a teenager who later died by suicide.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) sent a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Chew and Adam Presser, CEO of the company’s U.S. business, calling the company’s decision to run the experiment “depraved.”

Bloomberg reported that TikTok intentionally disabled an algorithmic safeguard for 10% of U.S. users, creating a control group for the experiment. The safeguard was designed to prevent users from being overwhelmed by harmful content, but TikTok wanted to determine whether it made the app less engaging, so it decided to conduct the experiment.

One of the people in the control group was 16-year-old Chase Nasca, whose algorithm fed him thousands of videos about sadness, suicide, and loneliness up until he died by suicide.

The senators are demanding answers to 13 questions regarding the experiment, including names of every employee who knew about the experiment and why TikTok allowed minors to be part of the control group. They’re also looking for a list of every algorithmic experiment in the U.S. when the social network disabled or delayed a safety feature. The senators have given TikTok until September 1 to respond.

TikTok did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.