On Friday, the Chinese-owned company was in Oslo to meet Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap). There, Trettebergstuen recorded the news article “TikTok’s muscle power”, which was published last weekend. – We are grateful that we have this dialogue with the minister, says Christine Grahn, who heads TikTok’s government contact in Northern Europe. The algorithms give 90 percent muscles news’s article shows how a 13-year-old TikTok user who wants to become more muscular is quickly served large amounts of extreme exercise. After five hours of swiping, his feed consists of 90 percent muscle-building videos. This despite the fact that last year TikTok promised to work to avoid large amounts of one theme. When asked why they have not been able to avoid this, TikTok representative Grahn answers the following: – It is something we have discussed with the minister, and we are grateful that we have this dialogue. And we look forward to continuing this dialogue here in Norway. – Trettebergstuen says she is shaken by news’s findings. Will you make any changes to the algorithm after this? – There is nothing I can comment on today. We have this dialogue and look forward to intensifying it over the next year. I am pleased that the Minister took the time to speak to us today. Christine Grahn heads TikTok’s government contact in Northern Europe. Photo: Anders Fehn/news Read also: The Minister of Culture shaken by the news case: – This can destroy lives – Shared responsibility In an earlier response to news, TikTok pointed out that they encouraged parents and teenagers to explore together a tool where you can filter out words and topic tags that they don’t want to see in their feed. – Does that mean that it is the parents’ and teenagers’ responsibility to prevent one from getting one-sided content in their feed? – It is a shared responsibility, really, both with parents, users and us as a platform. It is something we have discussed with the minister and will discuss in the future, says Grahn. Contact point in Norway Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap) tells news that she raised her concerns with TikTok. – I have called for more transparency about how the algorithms work and better moderation so that harmful rabbit holes do not arise, she says. Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (th) greets TikTok’s head of government relations in Northern Europe, Christine Grahn. Photo: Anders Fehn/news The parties agreed that TikTok will establish a contact point in Norway that can maintain contact with the Norwegian authorities and media. – Did you get the impression that they listened to the criticism? – In any case, we have to speak up. The example news has shown is one of many examples of young people being exposed to triggering and harmful content, and we don’t want it that way, says the Minister of Culture. Trettebergstuen has also promised a common Nordic set of regulations that will go a long way in regulating the big technology giants. But for the time being there are few concrete measures: – We have set up a think tank which will come up with proposals for measures in April. So we’ll come back to that then, she says.
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