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Another too long for Dreamwidth headline
Feb. 20th, 2026 02:24 pmFull headline, for the usual reasons: "Night in the Woods publisher Finji accuses TikTok of creating 'racist, sexist' and uneditable GenAI ads for its games"
"Finji is 'unable to view or edit the AI-generated versions of its own ads,' which includes a 'sexualised, racist and sexist representation' of one of its characters"
"'I have to admit I am a bit shocked by TikTok's complete lack of appropriate response to the mess they made,' [Finji CEO and co-founder, Rebekah] Saltsman told [IGN].
"'It's one thing to have an algorithm that's racist and sexist, and another thing to use AI to churn content of your paying business partners, and another thing to do it against their consent, and then to also NOT respond to any of those mistakes in a coherent way? Really?'
"'What really is utterly baffling is what appears to be a profound void where common sense and business sense usually reside,' she continued.
"'Does TikTok want me to be grateful for the mistreatment of my company and our game? Based on the wild response through the weeks of customer service correspondence we have received, I think this is their stance and take on their obvious offensive and racist technology and process and how they secretly use it on the assets of their paying clients without consent or knowledge.'
"Saltsman added: 'This is just simply embarrassing, but not for me as an individual. For me, I am just super pissed off. This is my work, my team's work and mine and my company's reputation, which I have spent over a decade building. My expectation was a proper apology, systemic changes in how they use this technology for paying clients and a hard look at why their technology is so obviously racist and sexist. I am obviously not holding my breath for any of the above.'"
So, yeah... I guess that's the freshest hell involving gen AI being unleashed by uncaring asshats for nefarious purposes.
The game in question is Usual June (a game I have not yet played myself). While I haven't seen these racist/sexist ads (nor am I going to seek them out, because TikTok), I can, sadly, easily imagine how disgusting they probably are.
Well, on the "bright" side, TikTok is US-owned now, so maybe Finji can sue the shit out of TikTok and, hopefully, get at least marginally better results than if it was still wholly owned by China. Or maybe not, I dunno. *vague gesture in the direction of the current US "justice" system + shrug + weary sigh*
(EDIT) So... as someone who does not and will not ever use TikTok, I've just got to ask... is this shit normal? (Note, only one of those was AI generated, as far as I'm aware. The rest were made by humans. WTAF.) (/EDIT)
"Finji is 'unable to view or edit the AI-generated versions of its own ads,' which includes a 'sexualised, racist and sexist representation' of one of its characters"
"'I have to admit I am a bit shocked by TikTok's complete lack of appropriate response to the mess they made,' [Finji CEO and co-founder, Rebekah] Saltsman told [IGN].
"'It's one thing to have an algorithm that's racist and sexist, and another thing to use AI to churn content of your paying business partners, and another thing to do it against their consent, and then to also NOT respond to any of those mistakes in a coherent way? Really?'
"'What really is utterly baffling is what appears to be a profound void where common sense and business sense usually reside,' she continued.
"'Does TikTok want me to be grateful for the mistreatment of my company and our game? Based on the wild response through the weeks of customer service correspondence we have received, I think this is their stance and take on their obvious offensive and racist technology and process and how they secretly use it on the assets of their paying clients without consent or knowledge.'
"Saltsman added: 'This is just simply embarrassing, but not for me as an individual. For me, I am just super pissed off. This is my work, my team's work and mine and my company's reputation, which I have spent over a decade building. My expectation was a proper apology, systemic changes in how they use this technology for paying clients and a hard look at why their technology is so obviously racist and sexist. I am obviously not holding my breath for any of the above.'"
So, yeah... I guess that's the freshest hell involving gen AI being unleashed by uncaring asshats for nefarious purposes.
The game in question is Usual June (a game I have not yet played myself). While I haven't seen these racist/sexist ads (nor am I going to seek them out, because TikTok), I can, sadly, easily imagine how disgusting they probably are.
Well, on the "bright" side, TikTok is US-owned now, so maybe Finji can sue the shit out of TikTok and, hopefully, get at least marginally better results than if it was still wholly owned by China. Or maybe not, I dunno. *vague gesture in the direction of the current US "justice" system + shrug + weary sigh*
(EDIT) So... as someone who does not and will not ever use TikTok, I've just got to ask... is this shit normal? (Note, only one of those was AI generated, as far as I'm aware. The rest were made by humans. WTAF.) (/EDIT)
