Whistleblowers expose Meta and TikTok amplifying harmful content for engagement
Whistleblowers from Meta and TikTok told the BBC that both companies deliberately allowed more harmful content, including violence, sexual extortion and terrorism-related material, in user feeds to compete for engagement. A Meta engineer reported receiving direction to promote borderline harmful content including misogyny and conspiracy theories, while a TikTok employee exposed internal evidence that staff were instructed to prioritize cases involving politicians over harmful posts involving children.
What happened
More than a dozen whistleblowers and current or former employees told the BBC that Meta and TikTok permitted more harmful content in user feeds, with companies assuming safety risks involving violence, sexual extortion and terrorism while competing for user attention.
A Meta engineer described receiving direction from company leadership to allow more borderline harmful content including misogyny and conspiracy theories in feeds to compete with TikTok. The engineer said: 'They basically told us it was because the stock price was falling.'
A TikTok employee gave the BBC access to internal company panels with user complaints and evidence that employees were instructed to prioritize cases involving politicians over numerous reports of harmful publications involving children, with decisions made to maintain strong relationships with political figures and avoid regulation threats rather than due to user safety risks.
Reported impact
Instagram Reels internal research shared with the BBC showed significantly greater prevalence of bullying and harassment, hate speech, and violence or incitement to violence in the comments compared to other parts of Instagram.
Governance controls
Meta researcher Matt Motyl stated that Instagram Reels, the company's TikTok competitor, was launched in 2020 without sufficient protections.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.