Court records detail TikTok staff warnings about risks to children

The Big Picture

Previously unreported depositions filed in federal court describe TikTok employees repeatedly raising alarms about child-safety risks, including minors appearing in sexual livestream content, loopholes in age restrictions and exposure to suicide-related material.

The records were filed in March 2026 as part of multidistrict litigation that consolidates hundreds of lawsuits against TikTok, Meta, Google and Snap. The lawsuits allege the companies harmed minors or failed to disclose known risks associated with their platforms. The allegations involving TikTok have not been tested before a jury.

What Happened

Reagen Maher, who held senior safety and investigations roles at TikTok from 2021 to 2024, testified that she spent months attempting to elevate safety concerns to senior leaders, according to court records reviewed by NPR. In an internal chat excerpt read during her deposition, Maher wrote: “I have been fighting about fixing this for months with people who didn't think the harms are severe enough.”

Maher testified about concerns involving what she called “transactional sexual content,” including children and teenagers appearing in or viewing the material. The filings describe livestreams in which viewers could send virtual gifts that could be converted into money. Employees warned that this model could allow TikTok to receive revenue from activity that violated its rules, the records show.

Maher said TikTok was aware of sexual exploitation concerns involving minors before Forbes reported in 2022 that minors had stripped on TikTok Live in exchange for gifts. NPR reported that an internal investigation found children ages 13 to 15 appeared in 112,000 TikTok Live videos in January 2022. According to employee testimony cited by NPR, the investigation identified risks including grooming by adult predators and the creation of child sexual abuse material.

Why It Matters

The depositions offer a view into internal debates over safeguards for younger users at a platform that became widely used by teenagers. They also could become important in litigation seeking to establish what social media companies knew about risks to minors and when they knew it.

Court documents also describe staff concerns that users under 18 could bypass age-restricted content and keep parents or guardians from reviewing their activity. The records indicate TikTok avoided conducting surveys to determine users' ages because it feared the results would have to be provided to the Federal Trade Commission.

TikTok introduced age-based account settings in 2021 that restricted some features for users ages 13 to 17, including direct messaging and livestreaming, NPR reported. But the records indicate employees continued to identify gaps in the platform's protections.

Background

Another former TikTok safety executive, Eric Han, testified about an internal 2020 report that described algorithmic “rabbit holes” related to suicidal ideation and behavior as having a “real contagion effect,” The Verge reported. Han said TikTok did not adequately warn parents about potential dangers, according to the publication.

TikTok has settled several youth-safety cases before trial. NPR reported that the company agreed in May to pay $8 million to settle a youth mental-health and addiction lawsuit brought by a Kentucky school district. In September, it agreed to a $100 million settlement with Alabama over allegations that it designed its platform to be addictive to minors and exposed them to harmful content.

What Each Side Is Saying

NPR said TikTok declined to provide a statement after repeated requests for comment and instead directed the outlet to previously published company policies. TechCrunch later reported that a TikTok spokesperson called the citations and claims “clearly cherry-picked” and misleading.

The spokesperson said TikTok has invested billions of dollars in Trust & Safety and deployed more than 50 preset safety, privacy and security settings for teens, including its Family Pairing tool for parents and guardians. The company said it remains committed to users' well-being.

What Happens Next

The federal cases against TikTok have not yet gone before a jury, and the employee depositions have not been presented as trial evidence. The records may nevertheless add scrutiny to TikTok's past safety practices as the multidistrict litigation proceeds.