Technology & Law
NewsOnScale Staff
October 20, 2026
Court records unsealed today reveal that TikTok employees repeatedly raised alarms about child sexual exploitation on the platform — and were ignored by executives who didn't think the harms were severe enough.
The depositions, filed in federal court in March 2026 and reported today by NPR, paint a picture of a company that documented the exploitation of children, quantified it, and chose not to act.
An internal investigation found children between the ages of 13 and 15 appeared in 112,000 TikTok Live videos in January 2022 alone. The company's own court filings stated the conclusion plainly: "If an adult pays a child, through virtual gifts, for sexual acts on a livestream, that is payment for the sexual exploitation of a child. Money generated through child exploitation offences can be criminal proceeds."
TikTok knew. The money was flowing. The children were on camera. The executives were told.
What the insiders said
Reagen Maher, who held senior roles in safety and investigations at TikTok between 2021 and 2024, testified she spent months on what she called a "crusade" trying to get senior leadership to act on child safety issues. She was ignored. An executive wrote internally: "I have been fighting about fixing this for months with people who didn't think the harms are severe enough."
Eric Han, TikTok's head of safety from April 2019 through June 2023, testified about internal discussions of "rabbit holes" — the company's own term for when its algorithm feeds users the same type of content on a loop. An internal report he authored in 2020 stated there was a "real contagion effect" around suicidal ideation among young users on the platform. His testimony detailed that despite this documented finding, the platform did not warn parents.
A draft of TikTok's own 2020 Minor Safety Policy Annual Review included bullet points stating: "Social media is inherently dangerous, and all minors are at risk when they engage on the platform" and "Minor Safety is an urgent issue that we must address effectively."
They wrote it. They filed it. They ignored it.
The age survey they refused to conduct
The court records show TikTok deliberately avoided conducting surveys to assess the ages of its users because it was concerned it would have to turn the results over to the Federal Trade Commission.
The company that publicly claims child safety as a core commitment refused to measure how many children were on its platform specifically to avoid regulatory accountability for what it already knew.
The loopholes they left open
Staff identified loopholes that allowed users under 18 to bypass age restrictions and block parental oversight of their app activity. The records show these loopholes were documented and not closed.
TikTok's internal estimate: 95 percent of smartphone users under 17 use TikTok. The company knew its user base was overwhelmingly young, documented the exploitation happening on that young user base, and the executives who were told responded by questioning whether the harms were severe enough to act on.
What the company said publicly
TikTok has publicly stated that one of its "most important commitments is supporting the safety and well-being of teens."
The court records filed by its own employees say otherwise.
Alabama's Attorney General reached a multi-million dollar settlement with TikTok in September 2026. The federal cases continue.
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