TikTok secretly gave thousands of children fake safety tools to track ad revenue, New York lawsuit alleges

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026.

Unsealed court documents in New York Attorney General Letitia James's lawsuit reveal TikTok ran secret 'ghost' experiments on thousands of children and teenagers, handing them non-functional versions of safety features while their feeds continued serving potentially harmful content. Internal communications cited in the complaint show employees warned the tests conflicted with user transparency — but TikTok pressed ahead anyway. James's action is one of more than two dozen state lawsuits accusing TikTok of deliberately engineering addiction in children.

TikTok's 'Algo Refresh' tool — marketed as resetting harmful content feeds — was given to young users as a fake version with no actual algorithmic change.

The legal filing also points to separate tests where safety filters limiting exposure to harmful material were SILENTLY DISABLED for random young users.

TikTok told courts its testing 'aligns with standard corporate practices' — but has already agreed to pay Alabama up to $300 million to settle a separate state suit.