TikTok Faces Accusations As A Platform That Triggers Vandalism Among US Children And Adolescents

TikTok, faces serious accusations from US senators. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA—TikTok will face questions about content that might cause children and teens to steal or damage school bathrooms and other facilities when TikTok and other major social media companies appear before Congress on Tuesday, October 26.

In hearings focused on TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat, and Alphabet, the Senate Commerce Committee said popular apps had been "abused to harm children and promote destructive acts, such as vandalism in schools, deadly viral challenges, bullying, eating disorders, manipulative influencer marketing, and treatment."

In his prepared testimony, reviewed by Reuters before the trial, Michael Beckerman, head of public policy for America at TikTok, said the company's moderation team is working to quickly remove such content known as "devious licks." The "devious licks" trend on TikTok encourages students to steal from school or damage it.

"We've recently seen content related to 'devious licks' gain traction on TikTok and other platforms," Beckerman said. "Our moderation team is working quickly to remove this content and redirect hashtags and search results... to prevent such behavior."

Beckerman added TikTok "issues specific guidance to our team about this infringing content and proactively detects and removes content, including trend-related videos, hashtags, and audio," including looking for spelling variants that could potentially be used to evade moderators, he said.

Jennifer Stout of Snap Inc, vice president of global public policy, said in prepared testimony that Snapchat was not designed for content to go viral and instead focused on conversation between friends. Professionally created media content and certain stories highlighted in the app are all vetted by human moderators.

Leslie Miller of YouTube, vice president of public affairs, is expected to emphasize that the company strives to encourage healthy habits, and to ensure that children only view age-appropriate material. The company has been accused of being a treasure trove of misinformation on everything from politics to coronavirus vaccinations.

The hearing is the latest part of a lengthy investigation into what lawmakers on both sides see as the negative influence Big Tech has on competition, society and children.