NPR reported on October 20, 2026, that employee depositions filed in U.S. federal court in March described warnings about child safety on TikTok. The testimony concerned sexual exploitation, ways minors could reach age-restricted experiences, and repeated recommendations of potentially harmful content. NPR said the depositions had not been submitted as evidence at trial as of October 20.
What TikTok employees reportedly warned about
Reagen Maher, a former TikTok safety and investigations leader, testified that she escalated concerns about transactional sexual content involving children and teenagers. She described an alleged route for minors to access an 18-plus TikTok experience by signing up through Google, Facebook, or Instagram, and said senior leaders knew about it.
A separate concern involved TikTok Live. An internal investigation reportedly found that children ages 13–15 appeared in 112,000 TikTok Live videos during January 2022. The figure counts videos, not individual children. The investigation also reportedly identified risks of adult grooming and child sexual abuse material. It found that TikTok received significant revenue from virtual gifts sent to livestreams that violated its rules.
Eric Han, TikTok’s former head of safety, said he became aware in April 2020 of recommendation “rabbit holes,” where the system repeatedly showed users the same type of content. He identified suicide-related and body-image material as examples of potential harm. A 2021 internal chat also described a hidden link that let teens unlink Family Pairing, a feature TikTok introduced in 2020 for parents to manage aspects of a child’s use. TikTok said it notified parents when a minor unlinked it.
What the figure and court record establish
The 112,000 figure describes videos in one month, involving children ages 13–15. It does not give a count of unique children. The employee testimony describes reported concerns and an internal investigation; NPR’s account did not report a court ruling on TikTok’s liability. NPR said the depositions had not been submitted as evidence at trial as of October 20, 2026.
NeoTeo previously covered a separate New York allegation that TikTok withheld its Algo Refresh feature from some users. That allegation concerns a different claim from the employee warnings described here.
TikTok’s response
TikTok spokesperson Nathaniel Brown disputed NPR’s account, calling it cherry-picked and inaccurate. TikTok also told NPR that its anti-money-laundering program aligned with international standards and industry best practices.
Maher’s testimony included an internal chat in which she said some projects were underway to address parts of the issue. Her account described partial efforts, while Brown disputed NPR’s overall characterization of TikTok’s history and youth-safety commitment.
