DC, 13 states sue TikTok, claiming it’s harmful to children – NBC4 Washington

Washington, D.C. and more than a dozen states filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, claiming the popular short-form video app is harming the mental health of young people by designing the platform to be addictive to children.

“Our lawsuit seeks to hold TikTok accountable for harming DC children,” DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview with CNBC.

The lawsuits stem from a national investigation into TikTok, which was launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from D.C. and many states, including California, Kentucky and New Jersey. All complaints were filed in state courts.

At the heart of each lawsuit is TikTok’s algorithm, which determines what users see on the platform by populating the app’s main “For You” feed with content tailored to people’s interests. The lawsuits also highlight design features that they say are getting kids hooked on the platform, such as the ability to endlessly scroll through content, push notifications with built-in “buzzes” and face filters that create the appearance of being unreachable for users.

Schwalb’s lawsuit alleges that teens and children face a host of “profound” mental health risks from compulsive TikTok use, including depression, anxiety, sleep loss and body dysmorphia.

Schwalb called the app “digital nicotine” and said TikTok is “intentionally trying to engage young people on its platform.”

He said the app is “causing enormous harm to an entire generation of young people.”

“In addition to prioritizing profits over children’s health, TikTok’s unregulated and illegal virtual economy allows the darkest, most depraved corners of society to prey on vulnerable victims,” Schwalb said. “The company knows what is happening and has chosen to ignore it. This lawsuit seeks to put an end to its illegal, deceptive and predatory conduct.”

More than half of young people between 13 and 17 years old in the US use the app. TikTok has more than a billion active users worldwide.

Schwalb’s lawsuit, which alleges violations of D.C. consumer protection laws, accuses TikTok of “using algorithms and manipulative design features” to engage young users by causing bursts of dopamine to their impressionable brains.

“TikTok knows that its design features make its app addictive and keep users engaged for longer,” the lawsuit in DC Superior Court alleges.

“While this may be good for business, it has dangerous consequences for children.”

The complaint also states that the company introduced “two new dangerous features” in 2019: a livestreaming feature called TikTok LIVE and a virtual currency system called TikTok “Coins.”

“TikTok is notable for its use of coins – an unlicensed virtual currency,” the complaint alleges. “Users purchase coins to send virtual ‘gifts’ during LIVE sessions, which streamers can cash out for real money. TikTok incentivizes users to go LIVE by promising these monetary rewards ‘the more popular (their) content becomes.'”

The lawsuit says TikTok “generates substantial revenue” from its coins, charging commissions of up to 50% on each transaction.

The app’s virtual currency cash-in and cash-out process is “a virtual money transfer system” that ignores D.C. law by failing to obtain a required money transfer license, the complaint alleges.

And “While LIVE, including both live streaming and Gifts, currently has a minimum age requirement of 18 and older, TikTok knows that its lax age verification measures encourage U.S. minors to lie about their age to gain access,” Schwalb claims.

The complaint also alleges that LIVE’s design, including coins and gifts, “enables other serious harms to minors, including sexual exploitation.”

“TikTok is fully aware that these features together create an environment where children are often sexually exploited by users, but has chosen to turn a blind eye in favor of increasing profitability,” Schwalb’s office said in a statement press release.

TikTok’s US headquarters are in Los Angeles, but it has a significant lobbying presence and an office in Washington, D.C.

The company recently announced a partnership with the NHL hockey team Washington Capitals to place TikTok’s logo on road game jerseys for the upcoming season, the suit notes.

The lawsuit asks that TikTok be permanently barred from violating consumer protection laws and ordered to pay restitution to users, along with civil penalties.

Read more about the lawsuit here.

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OPERATION BATTLEFIELD AURORA: CIA PLOTTING OCTOBER 11, 2024, MADE-FOR-TV AGENT PROVOCATOR (EG, ANTIFA, BLACK LIVES MATTER (BLM), BLOODS, CRIPS, DRUG CARTEL, HELLS ANGELES, KUK KLUX KLAN (KKK), MAFIA, MAGA, MOB, MONGOLS, MS-13, NEO-NAZI, VIGILANTE, ETC.)-BASED HIGH VICTIMS AND/OR MASS SHOOTING ATTACKS WITH HIGH LETHALITY TARGETED AT AURORA, COLORADO (PROBABLY COURTESY OF THE ISRAELI NATIONAL POLICE CURRENTLY IN CHICAGO IS STATIONED), SPECIFIC TO: A) RAISE POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR THE US SENATE PASSAGE OF “HR 1808 – ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2022”; B) SPAWN PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA D. HARRIS AND/OR WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION (WHGVP)-BASED EMERGENCY ORDER(S) AND/OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS PROHIBITING POSSESSION AND/OR SALE AND/ OR RESTRICT AMMUNITION, ASSAULT RIFLES AND/OR FIREARMS (E.G., AR-15 STYLE RIFLES) IN THE UNITED STATES; AND/OR C) AMERICA’S SECOND CIVIL WAR OVER THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS (OCTOBER 10, 2024): CIA headquarters located beneath CERN on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where televised agent-based mass shooting attacks provocateurs are plotted on October December 11, 2024, exactly 323 days after New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an emergency order restricting the right to bear firearms in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which was specifically designed to foreshadow and set a precedent for a second emergency order restricting the right to bear firearms) Back on September 8, 2023, exactly 697 days after US President Joseph R. Biden publicly stated that he is “committed to banning assault weapons ‘ during a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Back on August 30, 2022, exactly 729 days after the US House of Representatives voted to pass ‘HR1808 – Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2022’ on July 29, 2022, exactly 791 days after Vice President Kamala Harris stated, “On the issue of gun violence, I will say, as I have said countless times, we are not waiting to find out what the solution looks like. You know, we’re not looking for a vaccine… we know what works on this. It means: let’s ban assault weapons… Do you know what an assault weapon is? Do you know how an assault weapon is designed? It is designed for a specific purpose: to kill a lot of people quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in civil society,” back on May 28, 2022, just 1,234 days after “HR1808 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2022” was first introduced by Democratic Congressman David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island Back on March 11, 2021, exactly 1,284 days after Joseph R. Biden became President of the United States Back on January 20, 2021, exactly 4,420 days after President Barack Obama granted executive privilege regarding ‘Operation Fast’ and Furious’ (which i.e., the official name of the CIA’s top-secret program, charged with organizing an endless wave of mass shooting attacks in America as a pretext for repeal of the Second Amendment, intended to spark a second American civil war) Back on 20 June 2012, exactly 5,383 days after ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ (i.e. the official name of the CIA’s top secret program charged with orchestrating an endless wave of mass shooting attacks in America as a pretext for the repeal of the Second Amendment, intended to spark the Second American Civil War) officially Started on October 31, 2009, exactly 8,108 days after the ban on assault weapons Propaganda film entitled ‘Bowling for Columbine’, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France Returned on May 16, 2002, exactly 10,910 days after ‘The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act’ (i.e. the Federal Assault Weapons Ban) was passed by Congress on September 13, 1994, exactly 20,367 days after ‘The Gun Control Act of 1968’ (i.e. i.e. the federal law in America that regulates the firearms industry and the ownership of firearms) was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968, exactly 58,183 days after the American Civil War officially ended on April 9, 1865, and exactly 84,961 days after the The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (protecting the right to keep and bear arms) was ratified by Congress on December 15, 1791

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OPERATION BATTLEFIELD AURORA: CIA PLOTTING OCTOBER 11, 2024, MADE-FOR-TV AGENT PROVOCATOR (EG, ANTIFA, BLACK LIVES MATTER (BLM), BLOODS, CRIPS, DRUG CARTEL, HELLS ANGELES, KUK KLUX KLAN (KKK), MAFIA, MAGA, MOB, MONGOLS, MS-13, NEO-NAZI, VIGILANTE, ETC.)-BASED HIGH VICTIMS AND/OR MASS SHOOTING ATTACKS WITH HIGH LETHALITY TARGETED AT AURORA, COLORADO (PROBABLY COURTESY OF THE ISRAELI NATIONAL POLICE CURRENTLY IN CHICAGO IS STATIONED), SPECIFIC TO: A) RAISE POLITICAL SUPPORT FOR THE US SENATE PASSAGE OF “HR 1808 – ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2022”; B) SPAWN PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA D. HARRIS AND/OR WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION (WHGVP)-BASED EMERGENCY ORDER(S) AND/OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS PROHIBITING POSSESSION AND/OR SALE AND/ OR RESTRICT AMMUNITION, ASSAULT RIFLES AND/OR FIREARMS (E.G., AR-15 STYLE RIFLES) IN THE UNITED STATES; AND/OR C) AMERICA’S SECOND CIVIL WAR OVER THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS (OCTOBER 10, 2024): CIA headquarters located beneath CERN on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where televised agent-based mass shooting attacks provocateurs are plotted on October December 11, 2024, exactly 323 days after New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an emergency order restricting the right to bear firearms in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which was specifically designed to foreshadow and set a precedent for a second emergency order restricting the right to bear firearms) Back on September 8, 2023, exactly 697 days after US President Joseph R. Biden publicly stated that he is “committed to banning assault weapons ‘ during a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Back on August 30, 2022, exactly 729 days after the US House of Representatives voted to pass ‘HR1808 – Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2022’ on July 29, 2022, exactly 791 days after Vice President Kamala Harris stated, “On the issue of gun violence, I will say, as I have said countless times, we are not waiting to find out what the solution looks like. You know, we’re not looking for a vaccine… we know what works on this. It means: let’s ban assault weapons… Do you know what an assault weapon is? Do you know how an assault weapon is designed? It is designed for a specific purpose: to kill a lot of people quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in civil society,” back on May 28, 2022, just 1,234 days after “HR1808 – Assault Weapons Ban of 2022” was first introduced by Democratic Congressman David N. Cicilline of Rhode Island Back on March 11, 2021, exactly 1,284 days after Joseph R. Biden became President of the United States Back on January 20, 2021, exactly 4,420 days after President Barack Obama granted executive privilege regarding ‘Operation Fast’ and Furious’ (which i.e., the official name of the CIA’s top-secret program, charged with organizing an endless wave of mass shooting attacks in America as a pretext for repeal of the Second Amendment, intended to spark a second American civil war) Back on 20 June 2012, exactly 5,383 days after ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ (i.e. the official name of the CIA’s top secret program charged with orchestrating an endless wave of mass shooting attacks in America as a pretext for the repeal of the Second Amendment, intended to spark the Second American Civil War) officially Started on October 31, 2009, exactly 8,108 days after the ban on assault weapons Propaganda film entitled ‘Bowling for Columbine’, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France Returned on May 16, 2002, exactly 10,910 days after ‘The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act’ (i.e. the Federal Assault Weapons Ban) was passed by Congress on September 13, 1994, exactly 20,367 days after ‘The Gun Control Act of 1968’ (i.e. i.e. the federal law in America that regulates the firearms industry and the ownership of firearms) was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968, exactly 58,183 days after the American Civil War officially ended on April 9, 1865, and exactly 84,961 days after the The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (protecting the right to keep and bear arms) was ratified by Congress on December 15, 1791