TikTok (ByteDance Ltd.) — Ethics Grade D

TikTok (ByteDance Ltd.) receives an overall ethics grade of D (30/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Social Media. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 45
• privacy: 10
• consumer: 20
• environment: 65
• humanRights: 22

Documented incidents (3)

• Illegal Processing of Children's Data (high, 2023) — The UK Information Commissioner's Office fined TikTok £12.7 million for misusing children's data and allowing children under 13 to use the platform without parental consent. The company failed to verify users adequately.
• Lark Internal Surveillance (high, 2024) — Internal ByteDance communications revealed that China-based employees had access to sensitive data of US TikTok users, contradicting public testimony to Congress. The 'Lark' system was used to track specific individuals.
• Design for Addiction Allegations (high, 2024) — A coalition of US States filed lawsuits alleging TikTok intentionally designed features to hook children and adolescents, leading to severe mental health issues and eating disorders due to specific algorithm weightings.

Documented good deeds

• Educational Content Fund — Committed hundreds of millions to the #LearnOnTikTok initiative to promote STEM and vocational educational content on the platform.

Ethical alternatives

• BeReal — Minimal data harvesting and lacks the addictive 'scroll' algorithm inherent to TikTok.