In May, TikTok announced that Automatically tag AI-generated content on its platform. However, this is not the case in all versions of the application. new report A study by the Mozilla Foundation and AI Forensics finds that TikTok’s Lite-Save Data version, aimed at users in poorer markets, not only leaves AI-generated content unlabeled but also lacks other similar protections.
“Labeling is a very important tactic that platforms use to provide some form of trust and security,” said Odanga Madung, a Mozilla fellow and co-author of the report.
Users of the full version of TikTok, for example, will see labels indicating that content is explicit or depicts dangerous behavior. Some content on topics like elections and health, similarly, includes a notice encouraging users to access credible information through a “resource center” in the app.
On TikTok Lite, none of these barriers are present. Among other things, this means that, with misleading AI-generated content a problem in elections around the world, users in poorer markets are given less information about what is fake and what is real than users in richer markets.
Madung wonders why, of all the features that could be removed to streamline the app, the company included those that make the platform safer for users. “We don’t know if this is a choice or if it’s just negligence,” he says.
“This report contains several factual inaccuracies that fundamentally distort our approach to safety,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement. “The fact is that content that violates our standards is removed from TikTok Lite in the same way as our main app, and we offer numerous safety features.” The company declined to point to any specific inaccuracies.
Lite versions of apps have long been a way for companies to increase market share in areas where users are subject to high data costs or can only afford less advanced phones. In 2015, Meta, then Facebook, launched Facebook Lite, a stripped-down version of its app that was more compatible with 2G data networks. That same year it also launched Free Basics, which allowed users in the Global South to access the platform and other websites without paying for data usage (an app or service that meets these criteria is called “zero-rated”). At the time, the project faced widespread criticism, particularly in India, for creating a second-tier experience for poorer customers.
Tik Tok thrown out Its Lite version was launched in 2018 in Thailand and quickly expanded to other Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The app, which unlike the full version of TikTok can work on 2G and 3G networks, now has more than 1 billion downloadsaccording to data from the Google Play Store. (TikTok Lite is only available for Android phones.)
“Most users in the Global South are low-income and have limited resources,” says Payal Arora, a professor of inclusive AI cultures at Utrecht University. Light versions of apps help companies onboard these people, which she says is even more important than in the past because “data is a commodity in this AI-driven and AI-hungry market.”