A recent complaint filed by the state of New York against TikTok alleges that the social media platform deliberately provided a safety tool that did not function for thousands of young users. This was done to study how the absence of the tool affected their time spent on the app and its advertising revenue. The tool, known as Algo Refresh, was designed to allow users to reset their content recommendations and escape unwanted or harmful content. However, according to the complaint, these users were unknowingly selected as a control group to measure the impact on the platform’s performance. The complaint was filed in 2024 by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accused TikTok of creating a service that makes children dependent and of misleading users about its safety features. This is one of over two dozen complaints filed by U.S. states against TikTok. The Algo Refresh tool, described in the complaint as a "ghost" or placebo experiment, was intended to give users a fresh start by resetting their content recommendations. However, the complaint claims that thousands of users, including teenagers and children, who activated the function received a non-functional version of it. These users would have believed they had reset their feed, but their content would not have changed, unlike those who received the full version. According to the complaint, TikTok claimed safety as a priority and that its service was suitable for children, while deliberately withholding safety tools from users who specifically wanted to avoid harmful content. Internal documents cited in the complaint indicate that some employees raised concerns about the misleading nature of the tests. In an internal communication cited by the complaint, a product manager from TikTok's digital well-being division reportedly warned that the placebo group approach was at odds with the company's stated goals of transparency and control. Despite this, the company reportedly repeated these tests in 2023 on thousands of users, comparing those who had the full Algo Refresh function with those who did not. The complaint also claims that TikTok misrepresented the function, describing it as a reset of the recommendation algorithm when it was only a temporary change. A TikTok spokesperson responded by stating that the company continuously improves its platform and regularly tests new features to understand their real-world impact, adding that the allegations misrepresent the purpose of Algo Refresh. The complaint also references a separate series of experiments previously reported by Bloomberg, in which TikTok allegedly randomly disabled safety protections on users' accounts that limited exposure to harmful content. Bloomberg reported that a New York teenager involved in this test committed suicide after being exposed to content related to self-harm and suicide. According to the complaint, internal reviews showed that the teenager had been exposed to a large amount of such content. However, no direct causal link between the death and the experiment has been established in court. TikTok is currently facing legal action in several states, and in September, the company reached a settlement with Alabama, agreeing to pay up to $300 million and to modify its platform's operation for teenagers in the state.