Thirteen states are suing TikTok for promoting an “addictive” platform for American children

Image by Mike Blake | Reuters

TikTok is responding to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by more than a dozen U.S. attorneys general, accusing the Chinese video platform of harming children by promoting excessive, compulsive and addictive use –
one state even likens the app to “a virtual strip club” for kids.

Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the lawsuits were filed separately by 13 AG offices and the District of Columbia, alleging violations of state consumer protection law.

“TikTok exploits and harms young users and misleads the public about the dangers of the social media platform. The action seeks significant penalties, as well as injunctive relief and monetary relief, to address TikTok’s misconduct,” Bonta’s office said in Tuesday’s joint press release.

Most of the lawsuits highlighted TikTok’s underlying business model as one that focuses on maximizing a user’s time for the sole purpose of selling more ads on the platform.

The AGs have provided a range of examples, from the content recommendation algorithms and use of manipulative features to deceptive marketing that promotes a public safety narrative to the exploitation of children’s data without prior notice or parental consent, which violates the federal law for children 13 years and older. under.

TikTok use is widespread among American teens, with more than 60% of those ages 13 to 17 admitting to using the app, according to a 2023 Pew Research poll.

Of those surveyed, most teens said they used the app daily, while 17% of them said they were on TikTok “almost constantly.”

“TikTok cultivates social media addiction to increase corporate profits, deliberately targeting children because they do not yet have the defenses or ability to create healthy boundaries around addictive content,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“When we look at the youth mental health crisis and the revenue machine that TikTok has created, it is devastatingly clear: our children and teens never stood a chance against these social media giants,” Bonta said.

“TikTok must be held responsible for taking away the time – and childhood – of American children,” he charged.

Join me at 9:45 a.m. for an important announcement about California’s efforts to protect children online.

Tune in: https://t.co/biszIi59EV pic.twitter.com/OEx4si8lgV

undefined Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) October 8, 2024

Manipulative traits that harm teens

The series of lawsuits aims to protect young people in the US from mental health issues linked to TikTok’s “manipulative properties” – which are said to exploit children’s psychological vulnerabilities and keep them on the app for longer.

“TikTok claims their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from the truth,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Young people have died or been injured during dangerous TikTok challenges,” James said, adding that many more are “sad, anxious and depressed” because of its addictive properties and that “77% of young girls are trying to change their bodies change or hide” with TikTok filters.

Court documents from Washington state even compared TikTok’s livestreaming and blatant sexual exploitation of underage users to “operating a virtual strip club with no age restrictions.”

California’s announcement laid out a list of six specific characteristics designed to influence and capture a teen’s undivided attention and why they are harmful:

Beauty Filters – Encourage unrealistic beauty standards. Contributes to low self-esteem, negative body image and related physical and mental disorders.
Autoplay – Constantly plays new and temporary messages. Cannot be disabled, taking away a user’s autonomy. Takes advantage of novelty-seeking minds.
Endless/infinite scrolling – Makes it difficult to disconnect. Distorts users’ perception of time.
TikTok Stories and TikTok Live – Time-sensitive and temporary. Exploits users’ fear of missing out if they don’t tune in immediately.
Push Notifications – Entices users to return to the platform by overloading and overwhelming them with alerts. Uses fake alerts to trick users into opening TikTok.
Likes and comments – Form of social validation. TikTok’s design and display of emphasizing “likes” is particularly powerful and can neurologically alter teens’ perception of online messages, in addition to encouraging compulsive use.

The proliferation of beauty filters is hurting our children. 77% of young girls try to change or hide their bodies with these filters. Children have been seriously injured and even died as a result of TikTok “challenges” promoted on the app.

Non-stop notifications keep kids on TikTok day and night.

undefined NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) October 8, 2024

TikTok calls accusations ‘misleading’

In a statement released Tuesday, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said the ByteDance-owned company strongly disagreed with the allegations, calling them “inaccurate and misleading.”

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen time limits, family linking, and default privacy for minors under 16,” Haurek said.

Haurek further stated that after two years of negotiations with the law firms, “It is incredibly disappointing that they have taken this step instead of working with us on constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges.”

In addition to California and New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia are also included in the massive enforcement actions filed on Tuesday.

On October 3, the Texas Attorney General’s office also filed suit against TikTok for violating the privacy of state children, specifically targeting claims that the app shares children’s private data without parental consent.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, 23 attorneys general have taken action against TikTok for its behavior toward young people with today’s filings, including Utah, Nevada, Indiana, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and Texas.

TikTok is already battling the White House in an effort to block a law passed this spring that would ban the social media app from operating in the U.S. unless its parent company, China’s ByteDance, divests itself from the platform.