On Tuesday, October 8th, thirteen states in the United States and Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit against the short-video application TikTok, accusing the platform of harming the mental health of young users and collecting their data without consent. The states also accused TikTok of using addictive features that lead children to become addicted to the platform.
These lawsuits were filed in thirteen states and Washington D.C., further escalating the legal battle between the Chinese-owned TikTok and U.S. regulatory authorities. The lawsuits seek new financial penalties against TikTok.
In addition to Washington D.C., the thirteen states that filed the lawsuits on Tuesday are New York, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington.
The states accused TikTok of violating local consumer protection laws by designing its video sharing application in a way that leads to compulsive use, exposing young users to psychological and physical risks. They also claimed that TikTok misled the public about the safety of children on its platform.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated in a release, “Our investigation shows that TikTok nurtures social media addiction to enhance corporate profits. TikTok specifically targets children because they know kids lack awareness or ability to set healthy boundaries against addictive content.”
The states alleged that TikTok aims to maximize the time users spend on the app to serve them advertisements.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “Young people are struggling with mental health due to addictive social media platforms like TikTok.”
“TikTok claims their platform is safe for young people, but the reality is far from that. In New York and across the country, young people have died or been injured in dangerous TikTok challenges, and many more feel increased sadness, anxiety, and depression due to TikTok’s addictive features,” James remarked.
Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated in a release, “TikTok’s platform is designed to dangerously addict people, causing immense harm to an entire generation of young people.”
“Beyond prioritizing profit over the health of children, TikTok’s regulated illegal virtual economy also allows the darkest and most depraved corners of society to exploit vulnerable victims. The company knows what’s happening but chooses to turn a blind eye. This lawsuit aims to end its illegal, deceptive, and predatory behavior,” Schwalb said.
A TikTok spokesperson, Alex Haurek, responded on Tuesday, strongly opposing the allegations.
“We believe many of the allegations are inaccurate and misleading,” Haurek said. “We are proud of the work we do to protect young people and will continue to dedicate ourselves to this work, continuously updating and enhancing our product.”
Haurek also mentioned that TikTok provides safety features, including default screen time limits and privacy default settings for minors under 16.
In March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, conducted an investigation nationwide into the impact of TikTok on teenagers.
TikTok spokesperson Haurek stated that the company has been working with attorneys general for over two years, but they were extremely disappointed that they took this step, “instead of collaborating with us to develop constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges.”
The attorneys general of the states that filed the lawsuits on Tuesday stated that TikTok has not done enough.
They accused TikTok of intentionally using addictive content recommendation systems aimed at having minors spend as much time as possible on the platform and distorting the effectiveness of its content review.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued TikTok in August this year, accusing the platform of failing to protect children’s privacy. Previously, other states also sued TikTok for failing to protect children from harm, including Utah and Texas. TikTok rebutted these accusations in a court document on Monday.
TikTok is facing two major legal battles at the federal level, one of which threatens its survival in the U.S.
President Biden signed legislation in April this year that gives TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell TikTok. If the U.S. President determines progress in the sale, the deadline can be extended for an additional 90 days, giving ByteDance up to a year to complete the divestment. If ByteDance fails to divest TikTok within the deadline, the app will be banned in the U.S.
TikTok is currently working in federal court to overturn this executive order, claiming that the law infringes on the free speech rights of millions of American users.