If you read only one story today, please make it this one.
Paywall is lifted. So is the registration wall.
By Olivia Carville for @bloomberg.com @businessweek.bsky.social
bloomberg.com
TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide
A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.
![“When Bill Withers showed up,” Halverson says, “he comes walking in with his guitar and a straight-back chair, like a dining room chair, and asks, ‘Where do I set up?’ I showed him right in the middle of the room, and then he left and he came back in with this platform, a kind of wooden box that didn’t have a bottom. It was about four inches tall, and was maybe 3 foot by 4 foot; it was a fairly large platform, and he set it down in the middle of the room. Then he put his chair on it and got his guitar out, and he’s sitting on top of this box. So I miked him and I miked his guitar, and then I was doing other things—getting sounds together.
“But then he calls me over and he points down to the box and says, ‘You gotta mike the box.’ Well, the way I was trained, you serve the artist, whatever the artist needs. So I got a couple other mics and I miked the box, the place down near the floor, next to this platform.
“And now, when you listen to ‘Ain’t No Sunshine,’ you know that all that tapping that goes on [while Withers sings] ‘I know I know I know’ all through it, actually, that’s him tapping his feet on the box, which is actually more intricate than the guitar on that track. He had evidently rehearsed that in his living room, maybe for years.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vtqkh4q3vlh7rltd4tnaweh2/bafkreig3codqyfxdi2er2sqqri34kumkg2izjo4k7gtxp6pfipsxyx3yxe)
![“Question,” Epstein wrote to Maxwell on May 23, 2008. “Which one do you prefer,,, lewd and lscivious conduct ,, or procuring minors for prostituion.”
At the time, he and his star-studded team of defense lawyers were closing in on a generous plea deal with federal and state officials in Florida, and Epstein was trying to negotiate the state charges to which he’d plead guilty. Maxwell’s response was matter-of-fact:
From: gmax <gmax[REDACTED]>
To: J. Epstein <jeeproject@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, May 23 2008 3:22 PM
Subject: Re:
I suppose Lewd and lecivious conduct..I would prefer lewd and lescivious conduct w/a prositute if possible](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eeitvtxcbjt3vmljqfmwzahz/bafkreidw4qmdfvf3j7jmvtgppacjdnk4ffdvzipnd4sgxqx7kpkwirqmaq)
