Over A Dozen State Attorneys General Sue TikTok for Harming The Mental Health Of Kids

Social media can be addictive, right?

As fun as it is for adults, it can be equally harmful for children.

This is why numerous states are suing ByteDance’s TikTok for allegedly harming the mental health of children, as well as causing them to become addicted to such platforms and more concerns.

Attorneys general from 14 states and districts, led by New York’s Letitia James and California’s Rob Bonta, have sued TikTok for allegedly harming children’s mental health and misleading the public about its platform's safety.

The lawsuits claim TikTok promotes harmful features, such as autoplaying videos and beauty filters, which keep children engaged longer and expose them to dangerous viral challenges.

As such, the suits argue TikTok’s practices violate several state laws, including the federal COPPA, for profiting off data from children under 13 due to inadequate policies.

They also accuse TikTok of misleading consumers about its safety measures, such as marketing screen time limits that are easy to bypass.

However, TikTok disagreed with the claims, saying the company “strongly disagree[s] with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. 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.”

TechDogs-"A Representative Image Of A Child Using TikTok"

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What Did Attorney General Letitia James Say?

Through a press release published on New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ website, she said, “Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok.”
“TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true.”
“In New York and across the country, young people have died or gotten injured doing dangerous TikTok challenges and many more are feeling more sad, anxious, and depressed because of TikTok’s addictive features.”
“Today, we are suing TikTok to protect young people and help combat the nationwide youth mental health crisis. Kids and families across the country are desperate for help to address this crisis, and we are doing everything in our power to protect them.”

What Did Attorney General of California Rob Bonta Say?

Through a press release published on Attorney General of California Rob Bonta’s website, he said, “Our investigation has revealed that TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits.”
“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”
“When we look at the youth mental health crisis and the revenue machine TikTok has created, fueled by the time and attention of our young people, it’s devastatingly obvious: Our children and teens never stood a chance against these social media behemoths.
“TikTok must be held accountable for the harms it created in taking away the time — and childhoods — of American children.”

Prior to TikTok’s barrage of lawsuits, Meta faced the brunt of legal officials last year for intentionally making their social media platforms addictive to children.

Here, the social media giant was sued by 33 US states, including New York, California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont.

Furthermore, the lawsuit claimed that the company collected data on kids aged below 13 without their parents’ consent, making it a breach of federal law.

At the time Letitia James said, New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health, and social media companies like Meta are to blame.”

“Meta has profited from children's pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem.”

Following legal proceedings, it was found that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t be held liable personally solely because he was the public face of Meta.

Do you think the New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Attorney General of California Rob Bonta are correct in her pursuit of social media platforms such as TikTok when it comes to harming the mental health of children?

Instead, do you think parents should be held responsible for children getting addicted to social media platforms?

Let us know in the comments below!

First published on Wed, Oct 9, 2024

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