Schlagwort: human rights

The report contains sensitive content including references to self-harm and suicide    

New Amnesty International research has found that TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed is pushing French children and young people engaging with mental health content into a cycle of depression, self-harm and suicide content. 

The research, ‘Dragged into the Rabbit Hole‘, highlights TikTok’s ongoing failure to address its systemic design risks affecting children and young people. 

“Our technical research shows how quickly teenagers who express an interest in mental health-related content can be drawn into toxic rabbit holes. Within just three to four hours of engaging with TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed, teenage test accounts were exposed to videos that romanticized suicide or showed young people expressing intentions to end their lives, including information on suicide methods,” said Lisa Dittmer, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Children and Young People’s Digital Rights.  

The testimonies of young people and bereaved parents in France reveal how TikTok normalized and exacerbated self-harm and suicidal ideation up to the point of recommending content on ‘suicide challenges’.

Lisa Dittmer, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Children and Young People’s Digital Rights

“The testimonies of young people and bereaved parents in France reveal how TikTok normalized and exacerbated self-harm and suicidal ideation up to the point of recommending content on ‘suicide challenges’.”

TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed is a personalized stream of short videos that recommends content based on viewing.    

Amnesty International researchers set up three teen accounts, two female, one male, registered as 13-year-olds based in France to manually examine the algorithmic amplification of content in TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed. Within five minutes of scrolling and before signaling any preferences, the accounts encountered videos about sadness or disillusionment. 

Watching these videos rapidly increased the amount of content related to sadness and mental health. Within 15 to 20 minutes of starting the experiment, all three feeds were almost exclusively filled with videos related to mental health, with up to half containing depressive content. Two accounts had videos expressing suicidal thoughts within 45 minutes. 

Additional experiments were conducted with the Algorithmic Transparency Institute using automated test accounts of 13-year-olds in France. They found TikTok’s recommender system more than doubled the share of recommended sad or depressive content when watch histories included different levels of such videos.      

The research was conducted in France where TikTok is regulated under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which since 2023 required platforms to identify and mitigate systemic risks to children’s rights.   

French lawmakers are currently debating gaps in social media regulation, and this research adds to Amnesty International’s prior evidence that TikTok has not addressed systemic risks tied to its engagement‑based business model. 

Impact on young people  

Despite risk mitigation measures announced by TikTok since 2024, the platform continues to expose vulnerable users to content that normalizes self-harm, despair and suicidal ideation.  

Testimonies from young people with depression and from affected or bereaved parents reveal the extent of the risks and harms of TikTok’s business model for the mental and physical health of already struggling youth.   

“There are videos that are still burnt into my retina,” said Maëlle, 18, describing how she was drawn to depressive and self-harm content in TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed in 2021. Over the next three years, her mental health struggles with self-harm continued to decline while she became consumed by harmful online content.  

“Seeing people who cut themselves, people who say what medication to take to end it, it influences and encourages you to harm yourself.” 

While the report focuses on the amplification of harmful content, the collected testimonies also point to TikTok’s failures in content moderation. Despite repeated reports from young people and their families, content inciting self-harm or suicide has not been removed from the platform according to the research participants.    

For example, Amnesty researchers found two videos of the “lip balm challenge” in the feed of a manually managed test account in the summer of 2025. The social trend supposedly began as a challenge to guess the scent of a lip balm on another person. The idea evolved into a different version encouraging people to remove a piece of their lip balm every time they felt sad and self-harm or attempt death by suicide when the lip balm was finished. 

“For these platforms, our children become products rather than human beings. They use our children as products with an algorithm and a filter bubble, using their emotions to captivate them. The algorithm captures your interests, which is not normal. They intrude into the child’s private life. But children have rights,” said Stéphanie Mistre, mother to 15-year-old Marie Le Tiec, a French child who fell into TikTok’s spiral of depressive content and ended her life in 2021.        

Urgent and binding measures to make TikTok safe     

This research demonstrates TikTok’s failure to address the systemic risks caused by the addictive design of its platform on young people. The company is failing to live up to its responsibility to respect human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and is not fulfilling all of its DSA obligations.   

This new evidence of clear DSA violations by TikTok must be urgently factored into the European Commission’s ongoing investigation. Binding and effective measures must be taken to force TikTok to finally make its application safe for young people in the European Union and around the world. 

Katia Roux, Advocacy Officer at Amnesty France.      

“This new evidence of clear DSA violations by TikTok must be urgently factored into the European Commission’s ongoing investigation. Binding and effective measures must be taken to force TikTok to finally make its application safe for young people in the European Union and around the world”, says Katia Roux, Advocacy Officer at Amnesty France.

TikTok’s disregard for systemic harms linked to its engagement‑driven model raises serious DSA compliance concerns and underscores the need for stronger regulatory and platform accountability measures to protect children and vulnerable users. 

Amnesty International shared its key findings with TikTok. The company did not respond.   

Background  

In 2023, Amnesty International published two complementary reports  Driven into the Darkness: How TikTok Encourages Self‑harm and Suicidal Ideation and “I feel exposed”: Caught in TikTok’s surveillance web, highlighting abuses suffered by children and young people using TikTok.    

Further help on issues covered in this report can be found Amnesty International’s guide on Staying Resilient While Trying to Save the World (Volume 2): A Well-being Workbook for Youth Activists.

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Reacting to a new wave of arrests in Georgia, where police have detained over a dozen protesters after new restrictions on public gatherings were enforced, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“These arrests underscore an ever-deepening pattern of repression in Georgia. While states may impose certain restrictions on protests to maintain public order, the new amendments go far beyond what is permissible under international human rights law. Peaceful gatherings may temporarily disrupt traffic or cause inconvenience – this does not justify dispersal or arrest, which must be the last resort for non-violent protest activity.”

“The Georgian authorities appear determined to silence peaceful protesters through intimidation and punishment. The authorities must release all those detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Background

On 17 October, new amendments to Georgia’s Administrative and Criminal Codes entered into force, introducing harsher penalties. Among other protest actions further restricted, covering one’s face, or setting up temporary structures is now punishable by up to 15 days of administrative detention, or 20 days for organizers, while  participation in protests “subject to termination at the demand of the Ministry of Internal Affairs” would be punishable by up to 60 days of administrative detention.

Repeated offenses would trigger criminal liability, with penalties of up to one year in prison for a second offense and up to two years for subsequent ones. Similarly, individuals who insult or disobey police orders three or more times would face criminal charges carrying up to one year of imprisonment.

According to the Ministry of Interior, on 19 October the police identified 27 “offenders” who on 18 October took part in blocking part of Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main street. Fourteen were taken into custody, while administrative proceedings are ongoing against the remaining 13. Prominent journalist and television anchor Vakho Sanaia was sentenced to six-days in detention, and activist Lara Nachkebia was dealt a four-day detention for “covering her face.” Another journalist, Keti Tsitskishvili, has also been detained but has not yet been tried.

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Tanzanian authorities have intensified their repression of dissent against the opposition, journalists, civil society and human rights defenders in a deliberate strategy to instil fear, suppress civic engagement and entrench power, Amnesty International said today in a briefing released ahead of the country’s general elections on 29 October.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government has dashed hopes for reform. Instead, under her watch, authorities have continued and intensified repressive practices targeting opposition leaders, civil society, journalists, and dissenting voices, including through assaults, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, with nobody held accountable.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa

The general election is expected to be dominated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Party, with the two main opposition presidential candidates locked out from contesting. Last month Luhaga Mpina was disqualified for a second time from running, while Tundu Lissu of the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), the biggest opposition party, is on trial for treason.

“President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s government has dashed hopes for reform. Instead, under her watch, authorities have continued and intensified repressive practices targeting opposition leaders, civil society, journalists, and dissenting voices, including through assaults, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, with nobody held accountable,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.

“Political opponents have faced politically motivated charges and in some cases their right to contest the vote has been denied.”

Authorities must end their unacceptable campaign of repression against dissent, which has escalated since the last elections five years ago. They must immediately and unconditionally drop trumped up and politically motivated charges against all those detained solely for expressing political and religious views or other beliefs, including opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

Political opponents have faced politically motivated charges and in some cases their right to contest the vote has been denied.

Tigere Chagutah

For the briefing, “Unopposed, unchecked, unjust:  The disquiet beneath the 2025 Tanzania vote” Amnesty interviewed 43 victims, witnesses, family members of victims, legal representatives, and members of civil society organizations, and collated reports of attacks from media sources. All documented cases were verified through multiple independent sources where possible.

The Tanzanian authorities did not respond to Amnesty’s request for comment.

Abductions and unlawful killings

Amnesty International also documented widespread and systematic human rights violations—including enforced disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures and activists.

The Tanganyika Law Society documented 83 cases of people going missing under mysterious circumstances as of August 9, 2024.

On 7 September 2024, the body of Ali Mohammed Kibao, a senior strategist for Chadema, was found dumped near the shores of the Indian Ocean a day after being abducted from a bus in Dar es Salaam.

On 26 July 2024, Dioniz Kipanya, a Chadema party official, disappeared when he left home following a telephone conversation with an unidentified person. He is yet to be found. More than a year since Chadema youth activists Deusdedith Soka and Jacob Mlay, and Frank Mbise, a motorcycle taxi driver, were abducted by a group of men suspected to be police officers, their whereabouts remain unknown.

Amnesty International is calling for prompt and rigorous investigations into all reported abductions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and attacks, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Use of the criminal justice system and laws to repress the opposition

The authorities have also weaponized the criminal justice system against political opponents.

Opposition leader Tundu Lissu remains in detention facing charges for the non bailable offence of treason and publishing false statements, following comments he made on social media and on YouTube on 3 April 2025.On 24 April 2025, police arrested dozens of supporters outside the Kisutu Resident Magistrate Court, where Lissu was appearing. Many later reported being harassed, beaten, and subjected to treatment that may amount to torture or other ill-treatment, before being abandoned in remote areas such as Ununio and Pande Forest, about 43 km from central Dar es Salaam.

“Out of nowhere, a man who was wielding a long, pointed object jammed it through the inner ankle of my left leg, which left a gaping wound that was squirting blood. Through my bloodied eyes, I noticed that several of my captors were filming the ordeal, while laughing at and taunting us,” said one survivor.

In the run up to the elections, authorities have passed flawed laws and regulations that have further suppressed civic space, most notably amendments to the Political Parties Affairs Laws Act 2024 and the Independent National Electoral Commission Act 2024.

“Sadly, authorities have spent the last five years ripping apart the constitution. They have ramped up their clampdown on the civic space and the right to participate freely in elections through the passing of deeply flawed legislation that not only create room for violation of human rights but also attest to their zero tolerance of any opposing views both offline and online,” said Tigere Chagutah. of any opposing views both offline and online,” said Tigere Chagutah.

Restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly, movement, association, expression and the media

Tanzanian authorities have systematically banned, disrupted, or violently dispersed peaceful gatherings, particularly those organized by opposition parties. Opposition leaders and activists have faced severe restrictions on their freedom of movement that have effectively prevented them from conducting normal political activities.

On 13 May 2025, Chadema deputy secretary general Amani Golugwa was arrested at Julius Nyerere International Airport as he was preparing to travel to Brussels to attend the International Democracy Union Forum. He said the police questioned him about allegedly sending information to individuals in the European Parliament. “They claimed that the information I shared dishonoured the country and may have contributed to the European Parliament issuing sanctions against Tanzania,” he added.“Without sustained pressure from Tanzania’s regional and international partners to reverse the clampdown on freedom of expression and human rights generally, the 2025 elections risk becoming a procedural exercise devoid of legitimacy, conducted in an environment where fear, violence, and exclusion have replaced open political participation,” said Tigere Chagutah.

Background

In a 2020 report, “Lawfare: Repression by Law ahead of Tanzania’s General Elections”,  Amnesty International highlighted worrying human rights situation in the lead up to the polls and called on the Tanzanian authorities to respect and uphold human rights throughout the vote and after.

On 19 March 2021, Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as the President of Tanzania, becoming the country’s first female head of state following the death of President John Pombe Magufuli. Her initial months in office were marked by a series of policy shifts that signalled a departure from the repressive governance style of her predecessor. These included lifting bans on certain media outlets and allowing opposition political parties to resume public rallies which had been arbitrarily restricted under President Magufuli’s administration. President Hassan also publicly committed to constitutional reforms and fostering a more inclusive political environment.

Despite these initial reforms, repression has intensified under President Hassan, particularly as the country approaches general elections on 29 October.

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The sentencing of three land defenders criminalized by Canada sends a chilling message about the threats facing people and Nations on the front lines of the struggle for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. 

On Friday, a British Columbia judge handed down sentences for three Indigenous land defenders who were arrested in November 2021 during a heavily militarized Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raid on the unceded ancestral territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), a Wing Chief (Cas Yikh or Grizzly Bear House) of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan with Wet’suwet’en family connections, and Corey “Jayohcee” Jocko, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne, were later charged and convicted for allegedly breaching a B.C. court injunction that banned land defence actions near the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) liquefied natural gas pipeline. 

Each of the land defenders’ sentences include jail time: 17 days in jail for Sleydo’, 12 for Jocko, and nine for Sampson. However, the judge suspended the implementation of those sentences and ordered the defenders to complete 150 hours of community service rather than serve time behind bars. In explaining his decision to suspend the defenders’ jail sentences, the judge said he took into account the Province of British Columbia’s and the Government of Canada’s disrespect for the rights and interests of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

“While we are relieved that Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey were allowed to walk free, the application of jail sentences – suspended or not – sends a chilling message to land defenders who act to protect Indigenous rights and territory in the face of destructive mega-projects,” said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International. “These courageous defenders should never have been arrested in the first place for exercising their rights and defending the natural environment we all depend on. Canada must stop criminalizing Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous defenders amid a global climate emergency.”

These courageous defenders should never have been arrested in the first place for exercising their rights and defending the natural environment we all depend on. Canada must stop criminalizing Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous defenders amid a global climate emergency.”

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International has documented the human rights violations experienced by Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their allies, including Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko, since 2020. Amnesty International’s research has found that the injunction order that led to their arrest unduly restricts the human rights of the land defenders and the Indigenous rights of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. The arrests, prosecutions and sentencing of the land defenders therefore constitute serious violations of their rights. 

In February 2025, the B.C. Supreme Court found that Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko’s rights had been infringed during their arrests. In response to an abuse-of-process claim filed by the defenders’ legal team, the Court ruled that the conduct, including anti-Indigenous racist statements, of some RCMP members during the November 2021 raid violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, the judge declined to stay all charges against the defenders. 

“In our law, the land defenders who were on trial would have been rewarded for their actions, but under Canadian law, they face punishment,” said Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks. “The land defenders did exactly what they were supposed to do to uphold ‘Anuk niwh’it’en [Wet’suwet’en law]. They followed our law and our way of life. Our law stands for “land, air, water.” Their law stands for punishment. We are slowly getting them to recognize our process, and while it’s taken us years to get to this point, this is a huge shift. Do I applaud their law? Absolutely not. But we are making a difference.” 

“Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey have been convicted for peacefully protecting Wet’suwet’en territory against the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline – something they should never have been prosecuted for in the first place,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Even though the Court recognized that they were subjected to racist and violent treatment during their arrests, the three defenders find themselves being punished. Unfortunately, the systemic racism that led to their arrests remains unaddressed. The governments of B.C. and Canada have denied the Wet’suwet’en their right to free, prior, and informed consent, violated their freedom of movement across their ancestral lands, and threatened their traditional way of life. These ongoing injustices are painful reminders of Canada’s enduring legacy of colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples.” 

Unfortunately, the systemic racism that led to their arrests remains unaddressed. The governments of B.C. and Canada have denied the Wet’suwet’en their right to free, prior, and informed consent, violated their freedom of movement across their ancestral lands, and threatened their traditional way of life.

Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section.

If Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko had been sentenced to jail time or house arrest, Amnesty International would have declared them prisoners of conscience. It would have been only the second time Amnesty had applied that designation to a person or group held by Canada.  

In July 2024, the organization declared another Wet’suwet’en land defender – Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl – a prisoner of conscience after the B.C. Supreme Court sentenced him to 60 days of house arrest. Like Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko, Chief Dsta’hyl was charged and later convicted for allegedly violating the terms of the B.C. court injunction banning land defence actions near the CGL pipeline, including in areas of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s territory.

“Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change and will face disproportionate harms if humanity fails to move on from burning fossil fuels,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, Executive Director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone. “States must hold up, not lock up, Indigenous land defenders like Sleydo’, Shaylynn and Corey, and follow their lead towards a healthier, more sustainable future for all. B.C. and Canada must take immediate steps to end the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders. No one should be intimidated, harassed, or arrested, let alone convicted in a criminal court case, for exercising their constitutionally protected rights and defending the natural environment we all share.”

Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change and will face disproportionate harms if humanity fails to move on from burning fossil fuels.

rance-Isabelle Langlois, Executive Director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone.

The Wet’suwet’en Nation’s fight against the CGL pipeline continues as Canada, B.C. and the international business consortium behind the pipeline advance Phase II of the project. Aimed at doubling the output of the LNG export facility in Kitimat, B.C., CGL Phase II would involve the construction of seven new compressor stations along the pipeline route, including two on Wet’suwet’en Territory – again without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.  

Additional Information 

Amnesty International’s 2023 report ‘Removed from our land for defending it’: Criminalization, Intimidation and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders details the violations committed inflicted upon members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation by Canadian and B.C. authorities, CGL Pipeline Ltd., TC Energy, and Forsythe Security. Over 75 people have been arbitrarily arrested by the RCMP in four large-scale raids on Wet’suwet’en territory.

In June and July 2022, the B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) decided to charge 20 land defenders with criminal contempt for allegedly disobeying the injunction order to stay away from pipeline construction sites. Several went on trial in 2023 and 2024. In November 2023, land defender Sabina Dennis was found not guilty of criminal contempt. In February 2024, Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl was found guilty of criminal contempt for violating the terms of the injunction order. He was sentenced to 60 days’ house arrest which he served in July and August 2024.

Amnesty International continues to call on the Government of British Columbia to end the criminalization of Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous land defenders and opposes the expansion of all fossil fuel pipelines and related infrastructure.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org

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Amnesty International deeply regrets the death of Eduardo Mauricio Ruiz Sanz (32) from a gunshot wound, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in the context of the social mobilizations held yesterday in Lima. We urge the authorities to carry out thorough and impartial investigations to identify and punish those responsible, in accordance with international human rights standards.

Amnesty International further regrets that dozens of people, including protesters, bystanders and police, have been injured in the context of the state repression of the demonstrations, and categorically rejects the disproportionate use of force by the police and all acts of violence. 

We also express our rejection of the attacks against the press. Peru’s National Association of Journalists (ANP) reported 11 attacks on journalists covering the protests in the capital, six of whom were reportedly injured by pellets. This could constitute a worrying pattern of unlawful use of state force against the press, who play an important role in covering such protests.

Amnesty International has been able to verify that police officers fired pellets, used tear gas, and beat or violently repressed people unnecessarily and disproportionately, violating international human rights standards. Likewise, outbreaks of violence in which protesters allegedly clashed with law enforcement officers reinforce the need for the state to adopt response protocols that prioritize prevention, mediation and the protection of rights.  

We would like to reiterate that a protest does not lose its peaceful nature because of isolated incidents or violent behavior by individuals. It is therefore the role of law enforcement to identify and respond specifically to any such incidents, while continuing to guarantee and protect the human rights of peaceful protesters.

In light of the current social and political crisis facing the country, we urge the authorities to listen to the demands of the population, rather than delegitimizing them through stigmatizing rhetoric. The right to peaceful protest must be guaranteed without any limitations, and the repression of social demonstrations must stop.

In light of the current social and political crisis facing the country, we urge the authorities to listen to the demands of the population, rather than delegitimizing them through stigmatizing rhetoric.

Amnesty International continues to analyse the human rights situation throughout the country, monitoring the social mobilizations and deploying teams of observers.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org

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