Social media: Why algorithms show violence to boys

Andrew Kaung was working as an analyst on user safety at TikTok , a role he held for 19 months from December 2020 to June 2022 .

He says TikTok and other social media companies use AI tools to remove the vast majority of harmful content and to flag other content for review by human moderators.

When he worked for rival company Meta , which owns Instagram - another of the sites Cai uses - he says he was alarmed to find how some teenage boys were being shown violent videos.

Former TikTok analyst Andrew Kaung says TikTok 's algorithms are not informed by a user’s gender.

He says they are designed to maximise engagement by showing you videos they expect you to spend longer watching, comment on, or like - all to keep you coming back for more.

Andrew says some 16-year-old boys could be exposed to violent content “right away” because other teenage users with similar preferences have expressed an interest in this type of content.

In the UK , a new law will force social media firms to verify children’s ages and stop the sites recommending porn or other harmful content to young people.

UK media regulator Ofcom is in charge of enforcing it.

Ofcom says it can fine companies and could bring criminal prosecutions if they do not do enough.