TikTok pulls posts for weight loss drugs that reached kids

Source: The Verge added 22nd Sep 2022

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Migraine and epilepsy drugs were promoted for weight loss

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Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok allowed content promoting prescription drugs as weight loss aids to reach teenagers, according to a report by The Pharmaceutical Journal.

The journal set up a new TikTok account, indicating to the platform that the user was a 16-year-old girl and began searching for content under #dietpills, looking closely at the top 100 posts. Of the 100 videos, researchers found that nearly a third promoted diet pills for weight loss. Under the “diet pills” term, organic posts named prescription drugs for epilepsy, migraines, and addiction. Some of the posts flagged by the journal to TikTok were eventually removed, The Guardian reports.

In 2020, the company updated its policies by banning ads for fasting apps and weight loss supplements and limiting ads for “weight management products” to users 18 and up. Yet the test account by The Pharmaceutical Journal was able to find posts selling diet pills. Some users also made daily video diaries as they took the medication or shared before and after photos to show apparent weight loss.

Healthcare experts told The Pharmaceutical Journal that unproven diet claims can be dangerous for adults as well as teenagers.

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge, but told The Guardian that the promotion or trade of controlled substances, including prescription weight loss medication, isn’t allowed on the platform and that content violating that policy will be removed.

The issue of medical treatments marketed as a way to lose weight has come up before on TikTok. In January, the platform — along with Instagram — pulled ads from healthcare startup Cerebral that associated obesity with ADHD, saying patients may be able to “stop overeating” by seeking treatment for ADHD.

TikTok has been forced to respond to harmful dieting content on its platform in the past. A detailed report by The Wall Street Journal in 2021 showed how TikTok’s algorithm pushed young girls toward dieting and weight loss videos, sending them down potentially dangerous rabbit holes. A day before the story was published, TikTok announced it was working on “diversifying recommendations” so users weren’t flooded with a series of similar content.

Dan Seifert48 minutes ago

Here’s a look at a few Pixel Watch watchfaces.

Google is ramping up the marketing machine ahead of next month’s Pixel 7 and Pixel Watch event and has released a short video (via 9to5Google) highlighting the design and showcasing some of the watchfaces it will have. Most of them are quite simple, with just the time being displayed.

These videos always look great from a marketing perspective, but I think they poorly reflect how I actually use a smartwatch. I want the computer on my wrist to show me useful information like weather, calendar appointments, timers, etc, which means it’s never as sparse or simple looking as it is in these ads.


Please stop trying to order the Hummer EV.

GMC is closing the order books for the Hummer EV truck and SUV after receiving 90,000 reservations for the controversial electric vehicle, according to the Detroit Free Press. It just can’t seem to keep up with demand, so the GM-owned company has decided to stop taking orders until production picks up. Maybe if the Hummer’s battery wasn’t the same weight as a whole-ass Honda Civic, it would be easier to manufacture, but I digress.

GMC is the latest automaker to run into the problem of EV demand far outstripping supply. Ford also is having difficulty making enough F-150 Lightnings and Mustang Mach-Es to fill all its orders. Waitlists for most available EVs are longer than my arm. Things are going to be tight until the auto industry is able to bring more battery factories and assembly plants online, and unfortunately that could take a while.


The Verge is hiring!

The Verge is almost always hiring, and right now we’re looking for a big Verge fan with big journalism ambition to join us as a fellow for the next year. We’re also hiring a Space Reporter to join our Science team, a Designer to work with our Art team, and a Senior Editor focused on Search. Come apply to work with us!


Tesla recalls 1.1 million vehicles to prevent drivers from getting pinched by the windows.

The issue is that the windows would not recognize certain objects while closing, which could result in “a pinching injury to the occupant.” It’s a pretty enormous recall, covering some 2017-2022 Model 3, 2020-2021 Model Y, and 2021-2022 Model S and Model X vehicles.

Tesla said it would issue a fix via an over-the-air software update. Notably, nobody has been been injured or killed by Tesla’s ravenous windows, but I wouldn’t recommend sticking your fingers in there just to see what happens.


Congress is trying to make Google pay news outlets for links again.

The controversial Journalism Competition and Preservation Act — which would let news publishers negotiate payments for being linked by sites like Google — suffered a setback earlier this month thanks to a surprise Ted Cruz amendment trying to limit the platforms’ moderation options. After some negotiations between Cruz and sponsor Amy Klobuchar, it’s back for markup today, and it’s got critics even more worried than before.


Twitter asks a court to make its whistleblower reveal if he contacted Elon Musk.

The Delaware Court of Chancery has issued another couple decisions in the fast-upcoming Twitter v. Musk trial. It’s letting Musk add allegations that Twitter whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko received a $7.75 million payout from the company. Meanwhile, it punted on a Twitter request for details about whether Musk or his associates knew about Zatko’s whistleblower claims before he took them public — Twitter and Musk’s lawyers will fight that out in a September 27th hearing.


Green light.

And we’re back! You may have noticed a review of the new AirPods Pros, and the TikTok vs. Facebook battle heads to the metaverse thanks to this Pico 4 VR headset that lines up against the Meta Quest Pro.

Still, the sneakiest news of the morning might be this tidbit from Chris Welch’s update on the $30 Chromecast HD — the new device already runs Android 12, and the 4K model will get an update “in the near future.”


Have you seen any edited tweets yet?

Twitter’s edit button is live to a small group of users, Bloomberg says — “a subset of a subset” — and has been for about 24 hours. I haven’t seen any yet, though, and the option’s not in my Twitter Blue settings either. So keep an eye out, and let us know if you come across the mythical edited tweet!


The James Webb telescope has snapped this ghostly image of Neptune’s rings.

NASA describes the image as the clearest view of Neptune’s rings in over 30 years, some of which haven’t been detected since Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989. Webb was also able to capture seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons, with Triton appearing so bright it almost looks like a star.

The Ice Giant appeared deep blue in images previously taken by the Hubble space telescope due to methane in its atmosphere, but these images using the Webb telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera give it an altogether more ethereal look.


That ‘star’ on the left is actually Triton, Neptunes largest moon. And see those bright streaks and patches on the planet? Those are methane-ice clouds reflecting sunlight.

Image: Nasa

If you can’t launch Xbox games, try restarting your system (again).

I don’t know if the latest Xbox glitch has anything to do with the September update that brought a new library view and RGB effects on Elite 2 gamepads earlier today, but many gamers have had problems with games that refuse to launch.

This Xbox Support tweet from 11:18PM ET says they’ve released a fix, but to get it ASAP, you’ll need to restart — again.


We are aware of an earlier issue that was causing games to crash. A fix for this issue will make its way to everyone’s console soon, but if you want the fix immediately we would recommend that you reboot your console.

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) September 22, 2022

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