From State ex rel. Jackson v. TikTok Inc., decided Tuesday by Judge Adam Conrad; I'm skeptical about the analysis, for reasons I hope to blog about later (I'm writing a journal article on the subject right now), but I thought I'd pass it along:
The following background assumes that the allegations in the complaint are true [because that's what courts do when deciding on a defendant's motion to dismiss -EV].
TikTok features an array of elements allegedly designed to exploit minors' developmental immaturity and induce compulsive use. TikTok's home page (coined the "For You Page") feeds each end user videos that are algorithmically selected to maximize engagement. The algorithm, or recommendation system, performs this task by recording the user's interactions with the app (such as sharing or skipping a video), identifying behavioral patterns, comparing the user's behavior with others', and ranking videos as more or less likely to be engaging based on that comparison. This individualized feed is, in the words of ByteDance employees, "addictive."
Other design elements enhance TikTok's addictive quality. When a user opens TikTok, a video plays automatically. The user can then cycle through videos endlessly just by swiping a finger. These features—"autoplay" and "infinite scroll"—generate an immersive, seamless experience without the occasional pause that the user might regard as a natural stopping point. Of course, scrolling isn't all that the app has to offer. Filters allow users to touch up photos and videos in myriad ways; one filter called "Beauty Mode" makes facial features and hairstyles look more attractive. Various buttons and widgets also allow users to like and share videos, post comments, and follow specific content creators. The desire to amass likes and similar social rewards begets more frequent and protracted app usage.
In addition, the app sends push notifications to coax users to return to the app when they are away. Notifications arrive on a schedule most likely to get users' attention, such as late in the evening. They may highlight algorithmically selected videos and sometimes promote content that is available to view only for a short period or at a specific time, playing on users' fear of missing out to create a sense of urgency. There are also badges, which appear as a number above the app's icon and tempt the user to return by quantifying, perhaps falsely, all that they've missed while not using the app.
These design choices allegedly make TikTok addictive to minors in much the same way that, say, roulette is addictive to gamblers. One reason that roulette is so alluring is that it offers unpredictable, variable rewards. As the wheel spins, gamblers "anticipate[ ] a reward that they know could come but is tantalisingly just out of reach," and they "experience a dopamine rush" in the process.
