Whistleblowers Allege Social Media Giants Prioritized Engagement Over User Safety, Fueling Harmful Content

London. Facts have emerged suggesting that the world's largest social media companies have made their algorithms more aggressive, compromising user safety and mental health. In a special investigative report by the BBC, titled ‘Inside the Rage Machine,’ more than a dozen former employees and whistleblowers revealed that Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok have promoted harmful content to maximize engagement and profit.

According to the whistleblowers, Meta intentionally featured controversial and rage-inducing content on its platforms to compete with TikTok's growing popularity. A former Meta engineer stated that when the company's share price began to decline, senior management directed that borderline harmful content, including misogyny and conspiracy theories, be shown more frequently in user feeds.

Internal investigations showed that when Instagram Reels were launched, adequate safety measures were not implemented, and content containing abuse, harassment, and hate speech was up to 75 percent higher compared to other features.

A TikTok employee, providing insight into the company's internal workings, stated that serious complaints regarding child safety were ignored to maintain good relations with political figures. The data shown by the employee indicated that complaints mocking a politician were prioritized and resolved quickly, while reports of sexual abuse and cyberbullying against teenagers aged 16-17 were given low priority.

The employee claimed the company adopted a policy of pleasing governments and politicians to avoid strict regulation or bans.

Nineteen-year-old Callum shared his experience on how algorithms radicalize young people, stating that the algorithm continuously showed him content designed to anger him since the age of 14, pushing him towards racist and misogynistic views.

UK counter-terrorism police experts confirmed that similar algorithms are responsible for anti-Semitic, racist, and violent posts becoming 'normalized' on social media recently. Whistleblower Matt Motyl stated that companies deliberately avoid stopping harmful content because the longer users stay glued to the platform, the more advertisements the company can sell.

Refuting these serious allegations, Meta and TikTok claimed they have invested billions of dollars in user safety and introduced special safety features for children. Meta stated that spreading harmful content for financial gain was false, while TikTok completely denied the claim that it prioritizes political content.

However, according to engineers, deep-learning algorithms are like a black box; since they look only at numbers and engagement rather than the depth of the content, making them completely safe is nearly impossible.