>More than a dozen states in the US have sued TikTok, accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers. A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app and that it has intentionally misled the public about the safety of prolonged use.
TikTok called the lawsuit “disappointing” and said it believed many of the claims were “inaccurate and misleading”. The platform is already battling a law passed by Congress in April that would ban it from the US, unless Chinese parent company Bytedance agreed to a sale.
“TikTok knows that compulsive use of and other harmful effects of its platform are wreaking havoc on the mental health of millions of American children and teenagers,” said the lawsuit filed in New York on Tuesday. “Despite such documented knowledge, TikTok continually misrepresents its platform as ‘safe’ [and] ‘appropriate for children and teenagers’.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James said young people across the country had died or been injured doing TikTok “challenges” and many others were feeling “more sad, anxious and depressed because of TikTok’s addictive features”.
She cited a 15-year-old boy, who died in Manhattan while “subway surfing” – riding on top of a moving subway car. His mother later found TikTok videos of such activity on his phone, she said. “TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true,” Ms James said in a statement announcing the action.
The lawsuit singles out certain features as problematic: alerts that disrupt sleep; videos that vanish, driving users to check the platform frequently; and beauty filters that allow users to augment their appearance.
Though TikTok has promoted tools aimed at helping people limit their screen-time or resetting what content they are served, it has misrepresented their effectiveness, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuits were filed by 13 states separately and in the District of Columbia, where the attorney general also accused the company of running an unlicensed money transmission business via its “virtual currency” offering.
TikTok said in a statement on Tuesday: “We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. “We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product.”
The lawsuit asks the court to bar TikTok from such conduct and seeks financial penalties. Regulators have launched similar cases against Facebook and Instagram for their impact on young people’s mental health. The lawsuits add to the legal woes facing the wildly popular app, which more than half of US teenagers are estimated to use multiple times a day.
States such as Texas and Utah have previously filed similar suits against TikTok focused on child safety.
The Federal Trade Commission, a government watchdog, accused TikTok in August of violating child privacy laws.
4naami on
Mental health is a joke until someone loses it.
washedFM on
They should go back in time and sue Facebook also
roman5588 on
They need to ask why the Chinese version is so radically different in almost every way.
Some convincing points the Western version is a psychological weapon.
GavinET on
This is an intelligence issue. People getting hurt by doing dumb shit they see on the internet is natural selection. Furthermore, it is a parent’s job to parent their kids and nobody else’s.
Technologytwitt on
Donald Trump can run his mouth freely wreaking havoc on everyone’s mental health yet TikTok is the one being sued.
PharmyC on
Can they sue the Federal government for the mental health crisis caused by the 2nd amendment allowing rampant gun violence in schools next? Seems more serious.
Used_Visual5300 on
Best Chinese invention the Chinese won’t even allow their own to use. /s
That_Intention_7374 on
You know the parents are, if not more, at fault too.
nndscrptuser on
To be fair, havoc IS the only thing you can wreak…
dsm582 on
How is tiktok helping American children? It isnt. So get the fuck rid of it, another govt fail to protect citizens
MaimedUbermensch on
Hahahahahaha how the fuck is this real hahaha just walk away from the screen like just uninstall the app hahaha.
Eswercaj on
Cool, now do American social media companies.
krazykanadian13 on
Crazy how much push back there is on Tik Tok criticism. It’s almost like it’s working…
z01z on
how about not letting your kids spend literally all day on their phones???
-Luro on
China knew what they were doing. Just look at their version of this app available in their country. It’s just one of the pieces of a much larger puzzle. Not sure if our government is complicit or just incompetent at this point TBH.
BraveAbbreviations69 on
I’d like to sue Fox News and Trump for wreaking havoc on the world’s mental health. Also all republicans.
17 Comments
From article
8 October 2024, 16:47 BST
Updated 2 hours ago
>More than a dozen states in the US have sued TikTok, accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers. A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app and that it has intentionally misled the public about the safety of prolonged use.
TikTok called the lawsuit “disappointing” and said it believed many of the claims were “inaccurate and misleading”. The platform is already battling a law passed by Congress in April that would ban it from the US, unless Chinese parent company Bytedance agreed to a sale.
“TikTok knows that compulsive use of and other harmful effects of its platform are wreaking havoc on the mental health of millions of American children and teenagers,” said the lawsuit filed in New York on Tuesday. “Despite such documented knowledge, TikTok continually misrepresents its platform as ‘safe’ [and] ‘appropriate for children and teenagers’.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James said young people across the country had died or been injured doing TikTok “challenges” and many others were feeling “more sad, anxious and depressed because of TikTok’s addictive features”.
She cited a 15-year-old boy, who died in Manhattan while “subway surfing” – riding on top of a moving subway car. His mother later found TikTok videos of such activity on his phone, she said. “TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true,” Ms James said in a statement announcing the action.
The lawsuit singles out certain features as problematic: alerts that disrupt sleep; videos that vanish, driving users to check the platform frequently; and beauty filters that allow users to augment their appearance.
Though TikTok has promoted tools aimed at helping people limit their screen-time or resetting what content they are served, it has misrepresented their effectiveness, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuits were filed by 13 states separately and in the District of Columbia, where the attorney general also accused the company of running an unlicensed money transmission business via its “virtual currency” offering.
TikTok said in a statement on Tuesday: “We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. “We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product.”
The lawsuit asks the court to bar TikTok from such conduct and seeks financial penalties. Regulators have launched similar cases against Facebook and Instagram for their impact on young people’s mental health. The lawsuits add to the legal woes facing the wildly popular app, which more than half of US teenagers are estimated to use multiple times a day.
States such as Texas and Utah have previously filed similar suits against TikTok focused on child safety.
The Federal Trade Commission, a government watchdog, accused TikTok in August of violating child privacy laws.
Mental health is a joke until someone loses it.
They should go back in time and sue Facebook also
They need to ask why the Chinese version is so radically different in almost every way.
Some convincing points the Western version is a psychological weapon.
This is an intelligence issue. People getting hurt by doing dumb shit they see on the internet is natural selection. Furthermore, it is a parent’s job to parent their kids and nobody else’s.
Donald Trump can run his mouth freely wreaking havoc on everyone’s mental health yet TikTok is the one being sued.
Can they sue the Federal government for the mental health crisis caused by the 2nd amendment allowing rampant gun violence in schools next? Seems more serious.
Best Chinese invention the Chinese won’t even allow their own to use. /s
You know the parents are, if not more, at fault too.
To be fair, havoc IS the only thing you can wreak…
How is tiktok helping American children? It isnt. So get the fuck rid of it, another govt fail to protect citizens
Hahahahahaha how the fuck is this real hahaha just walk away from the screen like just uninstall the app hahaha.
Cool, now do American social media companies.
Crazy how much push back there is on Tik Tok criticism. It’s almost like it’s working…
how about not letting your kids spend literally all day on their phones???
China knew what they were doing. Just look at their version of this app available in their country. It’s just one of the pieces of a much larger puzzle. Not sure if our government is complicit or just incompetent at this point TBH.
I’d like to sue Fox News and Trump for wreaking havoc on the world’s mental health. Also all republicans.