TikTok, the popular video app developed by Bytedance, is full of accounts that take advantage of one of the app’s features to distribute and share child sexual abuse material. An investigation of Forbes has revealed that some people create users with whom they publish this type of content and make it private, so that it is only visible to their account, and then share the access credentials with other users so that, when they log in, they can see it .
These types of accounts are baptized as post-private, as its objective is to hide child sexual abuse material, but at the same time, make it accessible to anyone who wants to see it. To do this, they first promote content through a public video, which the TikTok algorithm could easily share between users through the ‘For You’ section. After, provide access to the account to anyone who is interested. In that account, and more specifically in the private videos section, is where the content is found, although on many occasions they are also redirected to other portals where there is more material.
Seara Adair, a TikTok user who was a victim of child sexual abuse, told the aforementioned outlet that she has tried to report these types of accounts to TikTok. The platform, however, in most cases concluded that the videos—those promoting access to content—did not violate community standards.
Mahsau Cullinane, a TikTok spokesperson told Forbes that the platform has “zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material” and that “this abhorrent behavior that is strictly prohibited” in the social network. “When we become aware of any content, we remove it immediately, block accounts and report to the [Centro Nacional para Niños Desaparecidos y Explotados]Cullinane says.
TikTok also insists that all videos, even those that are labeled private and only visible to accounts, are examined by an AI and, in some cases, through human control.
Forbeshowever, soon found users offering child sexual abuse content.
“Deliberate typos like “prvt”, slang like “priv”, confusing phrases like “postprivt”, and hashtags like #postinprvts are just a few of the search terms that returned hundreds of apparently violative accounts and invitations to join.”
Just like Adair, Forbes also tried to report those accounts in which they promoted such content, and in all of them TikTok concluded that the rules had not been violated. Only when the aforementioned medium reported the results of its investigations to TikTok, the app began to ban the content by displaying the following warning. “This content may be associated with sexualized content of minors. Creating, viewing or sharing this content is illegal and can have serious consequences.”
The accounts that share child sexual abuse material, however, continue to be present in the app. And everything to the point that they will continue to be present, taking into account the ease offered by TikTok for multiple people to log in to the same account.