Social media platform TikTok stands accused of designing elements of its app that “prey upon young people’s unique psychological vulnerabilities and drive young people to spend excessive amounts of time” on the platform.
That’s according to a lawsuit that’s been brought by 14 attorneys general in a collaborative action seeking civil penalties, with the goal of stopping TikTok from engaging in such unlawful conduct in the future.
The platform is already staring down the barrel of an outright TikTok ban in the US, which is currently set to begin on January 19th, 2025 pending its appeal.
Social Media and the Mental Health Crisis
The full document filed at court runs for 89 pages and reads as a damning indictment on TikTok’s practices and their impact.
Acknowledging that it is one of the most widely used social media platforms among US teens, it asserts that the American youth is “in the grip of a mental health crisis driven by excessive social media use” and that TikTok has contributed to it by actively getting users hooked to “ensure a lifetime of revenue.”
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The lawsuit’s introduction summarizes several claims being made against TikTok, including its employment of “an arsenal of harmful addictive-by-design features specifically tailored to exploit, manipulate, and capitalize from young users’ developing brains” and its refusal in the US to take measures to protect users from those harms.
“TikTok has internally known for years that excessive, compulsive, and addictive use of its Platform is harmful to children and teenagers.”
It cites sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide, and death as examples of that harm, with “many kids fall[ing] into a pervasive cycle of compulsive use.”
It’s not dissimilar language to that used in lawsuits brought against Facebook and Instagram owner Meta in October last year.
14 Plaintiffs Filed Lawsuits
The action against TikTok is being brought simultaneously by the attorneys general from the states of California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
Releasing their own press statements, the attorneys general demonstrated a united front. The attorney general for Washington state, Bob Ferguson, called for social media platforms to be reformed and that “TikTok is deceiving young people and their parents when it claims to look out for the safety of young users.”
While a statement from California attorney general, Rob Bonta, said that:
“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”
TikTok Defends Commitment to Teens
Among the remedies being sought from the court by the attorneys general are an injunction restraining TikTok from continuing or engaging in the unlawful conduct laid out in the suit, in addition to civil penalties of up to $7,500 per violation.
In a statement released via spokesperson Alex Haurek, TikTok responded by refuting the claims that it calls “inaccurate and misleading” and that it provides “robust safeguards” and safety features, such as screentime limits, family pairing and “privacy by default” for minors.
“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.” – TikTok spokesperson
TikTok also said that it had been collaborating with the attorneys general for two years and that, “it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges.”
