Washington DC - 7 August: In this photo illustration, the download page for the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on 7 August 2020. On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans any transactions between the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens due to national security reasons. The president signed a separate executive order banning transactions with China-based tech company Tencent, which owns the app WeChat. Both orders were set to take effect in 45 days. Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
TikTok’s secret algorithm has been blamed for sending young users content that pushes some into a spiral of self-harm, disordered eating and suicide.
In this episode of Bloomberg Investigates, a 13-year-old girl recovering from anorexia nervosa and a former TikTok employee who reveals the warnings he gave colleagues about the app’s algorithm.
Another TikToker, a 16-year-old boy who, according to his parents and their attorneys, killed himself because of the disturbing content that kept landing in his “For You” feed.
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