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On Tuesday, October 8, around 14 US states filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the app is addictive and negatively impacts children's mental health. The complaint was filed at a time when the app is already facing legal challenges in the country.
Washington, D.C., California, Kentucky, and New Jersey are among the states that filed the complaint in the state courts. The cases are the result of a nationwide inquiry into the platform which started in March 2022 by a group of non-partisan state attorneys generals.
The claim also alleges that the platform’s algorithm and design elements, such as its limitless content scrolling function, built-in "buzzes" in push notifications, and facial filters that give people new looks, cause kids to develop addiction.
TikTok allegedly harms children's mental health and makes them addicts
TikTok is currently facing issues as it could be banned from the U.S. by mid-January if its China-based parent firm, ByteDance, doesn't sell the platform before then.
Lawsuits have been filed in more than 14 states, alleging that the well-known short-form video app is reportedly affecting children's mental health by making the platform highly addictive.
As reported by the AP on October 8, stating the same, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview,
"Keeping people on the platform is how they generate massive ad revenue. But unfortunately, that's also how they generate adverse mental health impacts on the users."
According to the same source, the District of Columbia described the algorithm as "dopamine-inducing" in its filings. It further claimed that it was deliberately made to be addictive so the business could lure in a lot of young users and let them use the app for extended periods.
The complaint further stated that the app reportedly engages in these activities even though it is aware of the serious psychological and physiological consequences, including anxiety, sadness, body dysmorphia, and other chronic issues. In the interview, Schwalb also added that the company is making money off of the fact that children are becoming dependent on its platform.
Furthermore, as per Insider NJ’s October 8 article, Cari Fais, the Division of Consumer Affairs acting director in New Jersey said in a statement,
"The ugly truth is that TikTok misrepresents its platform as being safe for young users when, in reality, it is designed to turn a generation of children into social media addicts for TikTok's profit."
Although the platform tags some content for users under 18 and prohibits users under 13 from signing up for its service, the lawsuits stated that users can simply bypass these restrictions.
On the other hand, according to the same AP story, in response to the lawsuits, the app's spokesperson Alex Haurek stated,
"We strongly disagree 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. We've endeavored to work with the Attorney General for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges."
TikTok has faced criticism before
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. In March 2022, numerous states filed lawsuits against the platform for its alleged ill effects on young people.
On March 2, 2022, a number of states, including California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont, announced the lawsuit.
Additionally, the platform also experienced escalating privacy concerns, which resulted in statewide and nationwide device bans for the app.
TikTok has also been under fire from federal regulators and lawmakers in the United States for tactics and computer-driven content promotion that they claim jeopardize the physical and mental well-being of its younger user base.
Moreover, an investigation into TikTok's alleged infringement of children's privacy and facilitation of human trafficking was also launched by Texas in February 2022.
Nonetheless, TikTok has not provided any further comments on the situation.
