There’s no that in the United States TikTok is making waves. In France, a collective called “Algos Victima” is seeking to condemn the social network for the dissemination of harmful content towards young people.
A real darling of children and adolescents, TikTok is much less popular with parents. In any case, this is what the recent creation of the “Algos Victima” collective suggests, which wants to force the Chinese platform to face its responsibilities, particularly in the context of acts of school harassment or the dissemination of violent and anxiety-provoking content. .
French families against TikTok
Created following the September 2023 complaint for “provocation to suicide“, “failure to assist a person in danger” And “propaganda or advertising of means of killing oneself», this collective aims to lead a major group action denouncing the practices of the Chinese platform. Stéphanie Mistre, the mother of the young woman who killed herself in 2021, explains that she wants to stand up with others to “have more power and impact at the level of civil justice“.
The goal of Algos Victima is first and foremost to condemn the social network to “a very large amount of compensation» to obtain compensation on the one hand, but also to raise public awareness on this subject. In a press release, the association indicates that it hopes that “these steps will encourage digital giants to radically rethink the design of their services to protect minor users“.
Rethink the algorithm
In the sights of this complaint is of course TikTok’s algorithm, known to be particularly addictive and quick to lock users into sometimes harmful “bubbles”. The platform is also criticized for its lack of moderation in the face of the proliferation of content unsuitable for consultation by minors. This case also follows the opening of an investigation by the European Union into TikTok, with Brussels accusing the platform of “alleged failures in the protection of minors“.
To defend itself, TikTok claims to employ more than 687 people dedicated to moderating French-speaking content, to have suspended more than 20 million accounts belonging to Internet users under the age of 13 and to impose a limit of one hour of consultation on children and adolescents. . The platform even claims that 76.8% of videos identified as harmful are deleted before they can even be viewed by the public.
Source : Le Figaro, France 3, Huffington Post
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