“Obviously we wanted people to spend as long as possible in Tiktok.” Dressed by CNN, a public video shows that several Tiktok employees admit that the application algorithm is designed to be addictive.
This video was broadcast while the platform was attacked in the Court by the Attorney General of North Carolina, John Stein. The social network is accused of being “highly addictive for minors”, and of not preventing users, especially parents, the risks related to the application.
“You will never want to leave it again”
This revealed video shows several meetings extracts in which different employees of the platform evoke at different times the addictive character of Tiktok. Brett Peters manager, for example, explicitly speaks in a passage.
Therefore, we can see several employees discuss the origin of this Addicton, the algorithm. Alexandra Evans, former head of public security policies in Europe, even evokes a certain degree of danger in front of the youngest: “The reason why children look at Tiktok is because the algorithm is really effective,” he explains.
A spiral of harmful content
Tiktok not only has a potentially addictive algorithm, but can also transmit harmful content. In another extract, Ashlen Sepúlveda, a former Tiktok security employee, says that he is concerned about the algorithm that “offers content to users according to what he considers his interests.”
Technology can quickly lead a user in a spiral of increasingly problematic and extreme content. To illustrate this phenomenon, the employee takes as an example of eating disorders.
In this same video, Nicholas Chng, who worked for the detection of risks for the platform, said he had performed the same analysis. “Unfortunately, some of the things that people find interesting are not always the healthiest,” said Tiktok’s former employee.
On this subject, the “Skinnytok” trend began to emerge in Tiktok in 2025. This type of content aimed to promote thinness among girls. Some of the videos in this category went so far as to praise anorexia.
“Out of context” extracts
After the dissemination of this video, a Tiktok spokesman spoke with CNN. This complaint “out of context with the sole purpose of deceiving the public and making demagogy.” Keep in mind that many of the filmed meetings took place in the early 2020s, when Tiktok had only exploded.
On the contrary, for prosecutors, these extracts are the evidence that Tiktok was aware of the dangers made by their services.
Tiktok also in the French government viewfinder
In France, Tiktok has been the subject of a Parliamentary Commission for the Investigation chaired by Deputy PS Arthur Delaport. Its purpose is to audition several intrinsic players to the platform or its psychological hazards to determine the possible effects of the platform on minors.
As part of this commission, one hundred people, including influencers, experts, researchers or victims very often, shared their opinion on the subject. The platform officials have also been heard by deputies.
Source: BFM TV
