Unsealed NY Complaint: TikTok Ran 'Ghost' Experiment Giving Thousands of Teens Non-Functional Algo Refresh

Newly unsealed amendments to NY AG Letitia James's TikTok complaint allege thousands of users, including teens and children, who tried to activate the 'Algo Refresh' recommendation-reset tool got a non-functional placebo version while a control group received the working one. Internal messages show a product manager flagged that the placebo cohort conflicted with transparency goals; TikTok says the testing was routine product validation.