Amnesty International petition to change TikTok's harmful design brought to Dublin office

An Amnesty International petition asking TikTok to address it's harmful and addictive design has been delivered to the company's Dublin office today.

The petition, titled “Make TikTok safer for children and young people”, contains 170,260 signatures and has been delivered by digital rights activists Mary Kate Harten and Trinity Kendi from Ireland, Abril Perazzini from Argentina and Noe Hamon from France.

"These signatures represent a global demand for TikTok to replace its current business model of an app that is addictive by design with one that is safe by design," said Zahra Asif Razvi, Campaigner at Amnesty International.

"Its toxic design has caused harm to children in many parts of the world."

According to Amnesty International, TikTok’s model prioritises engagement and uses extensive data collection.

They found that the app's "For You" feature can push content dealing with depression, self-harm and suicide to children and young audiences.

Interviews conducted on young TikTok users in France showed that the app pushed videos that normalised self-harm and suicide after they engaged with mental health related content.

“TikTok must make its platform safe for children and young people to socialise, learn and access information and not be harmed," continued Razvi.