**TikTok’s Algorithm Actively Pushes Children Toward Pornographic and Sexualized Content, Report Finds**
A recent report released on Friday has raised serious concerns about TikTok’s algorithm, revealing that it not only allows children to access pornographic and highly sexualized content but actively pushes them toward it.
Researchers from Global Witness, a nonprofit that conducts investigative research, created accounts posing as 13-year-olds. Despite having safety settings for minors switched on, these accounts quickly received recommendations for sexually explicit search suggestions. Some of the search bar suggestions on these children’s accounts included terms such as “hardcore pawn clips” and “very very rude skimpy outfits,” which led to videos featuring women simulating masturbation, flashing their underwear, or exposing their breasts.
At its most extreme, the suggested search terms even led users to pornographic films depicting penetrative sex, according to the Global Witness report. The group also discovered that pornographic content had been edited into otherwise innocent videos to bypass TikTok’s content moderation efforts.
In one instance, explicit content was just two clicks away after logging into the app: one click in the search bar and another click on a suggested search term, Global Witness stated.
“Our point isn’t just that TikTok shows pornographic content to minors. It is that TikTok’s search algorithms actively push minors towards pornographic content,” said Global Witness.
The organization immediately reported the sexual content and inappropriate search suggestions to TikTok. In response, a TikTok spokesperson told The Post, “As soon as we were made aware of these claims, we took immediate action to investigate them, remove content that violated our policies, and launch improvements to our search suggestion feature.” The spokesperson added that TikTok removes nine out of ten videos that violate its community guidelines, including bans on nudity and sexual content, before they are ever viewed.
This new report comes shortly after former President Trump signed an executive order approving the transfer of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a consortium of American-based investors.
Henry Peck, campaign strategy lead for digital threats at Global Witness, told The Post that the findings were a huge shock. Although Global Witness usually focuses on the impact of big tech on human rights, democracy, and climate change, its researchers stumbled upon the explicit content suggestions while conducting unrelated research in April.
Despite TikTok’s assurance that it had taken immediate action, Global Witness researchers found sexual content recommendations again when they repeated the experiment in July and August. The sexualized search recommendations continued to appear on the fake children’s accounts, which were created in the UK on clean phones with no search history or prior usage.
The video-sharing app is especially popular among teenagers. According to the Pew Research Center, about six in ten teens say they use TikTok daily, with 16% reporting being on the app almost constantly.
TikTok users themselves have also expressed concerns about highly sexualized search suggestions. Several posted screenshots of troubling search results with captions like, “Can someone explain to me what is up w my search recs pls?” Others commented, “I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE,” and “How tf do you get rid of it? Like I haven’t even searched for it,” as well as “Same, what’s wrong with this app?”
TikTok claims to have robust guardrails in place to protect children and young people on its platform. However, Peck emphasized, “We’ve discovered that moments after creating an account, they serve kids pornographic content. Now it’s time for regulators to step in.”
The findings underline the urgent need for increased oversight and stronger protections to ensure the safety of minors on social media platforms like TikTok.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/03/business/tiktok-pushes-porn-sexual-content-to-13-year-olds-accounts-report/