More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have taken legal action against TikTok, claiming the platform is detrimental to youth mental health.
The lawsuits filed by 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, accused TikTok of harming and failing to protect young people.
The lawsuits were filed separately on Tuesday in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 11 other states allege that TikTok’s design is intentionally addictive, particularly for kids, AP reports.
They seek new financial penalties against the popular Chinese-owned social media platform.
This legal action stems from a national investigation launched in March 2022 by attorneys general from multiple states, including California, Kentucky, and New Jersey.
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At the core of these lawsuits is TikTok’s algorithm, which populates the “For You” feed with content tailored to users’ interests. The attorneys general argue that features like endless scrolling, push notifications with “buzzes,” and face filters creating unattainable beauty standards contribute to addiction and harm.
States participating in the lawsuit include New York, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington.
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The Justice Department has also filed a separate lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, for violating children’s privacy laws.
In its filings, the District of Columbia called the algorithm “dopamine-inducing,” and said it was created to be intentionally addictive so the company could trap many young users into excessive use and keep them on its app for hours on end.
The District of Columbia argued that TikTok does this despite knowing that these behaviors will lead to “profound psychological and physiological harms,” such as anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia and other long-lasting problems.
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“It is profiting off the fact that it’s addicting young people to its platform,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview.
Keeping people on the platform is “how they generate massive ad revenue,” Schwalb said. “But unfortunately, that’s also how they generate adverse mental health impacts on the users.”
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TikTok does not allow children under 13 to sign up for its main service and restricts some content for everyone under 18.
But Washington and several other states said in their filing that children can easily bypass those restrictions, allowing them to access the service adults use despite the company’s claims that its platform is safe for children.
Their lawsuit also takes aim at other parts of the company’s business.
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