TikTok censors content for all users under the age of eighteen and forbids minors under the age of thirteen from creating regular accounts.
However, the claims assert that kids may and willfully circumvent these limitations, giving them access to adult content as a series of addictive and hazardous movies that are too young for their developing brains to absorb are pushed upon them by an algorithm.
“Our investigation has revealed that TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits,” said Democrat, Mr. Bonta. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”
“TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true,” added Ms. James, also a Democrat. “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.”
The lawsuits noted a mindboggling array of viral TikTok “challenges” that have sparked an uptick in hooliganism and petty crime nationwide.
Ms. James cited, as an illustration, the death of a fifteen-year-old kid in Manhattan who was “subway surfing,” a practice popularized by TikTok users who post images of themselves riding atop moving subway vehicles.
Similar legal actions are being brought against the video-streaming site by the federal government and the state of Texas. The federal government has been closely examining the Chinese owners of the platform due to security worries that they may be mining private American data and sending it back to their Communist government.
If Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform by mid-January, TikTok may face a ban from the United States under a federal law that went into force this year. The business is currently suing the government in an appeal that might go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the platform of breaking a state law intended to safeguard children’s online safety and privacy in a lawsuit filed last week. In his case, he requests an injunction against further violations as well as fines of up to $10,000 for each confirmed infraction.
“I will continue to hold TikTok and other Big Tech companies accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritize minors’ online safety and privacy,” said Mr. Paxton, a Republican. “Texas law requires social media companies to take steps to protect kids online and requires them to provide parents with tools to do the same. TikTok and other social media companies cannot ignore their duties under Texas law.”
TikTok has frequently bragged about its safety measures, which include removing minors from the app, capping screen time, letting families share profiles, and protecting users’ personal information.
The Washington Times received a statement from Michael Hughes, a representative for TikTok, which reiterated those procedures. He described the lawsuits as “extremely disappointing” and stated that the company has been working on safety features with state attorneys general “for over two years.”
“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading,” Mr. Hughes stated. “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.”
The lawsuits are being filed in response to public warnings about a teen mental health crisis that may be exacerbated by greater usage of social media during pandemic lockdowns of schools and other youth-only spaces.
Numerous studies have revealed a rise in reports of juvenile suicide thoughts, anxiety, and melancholy in recent years, with young girls seeing the highest rates of increase.
Facebook and Instagram’s owner, Meta, has been the target of several litigation in recent years. However, detractors have noted that TikTok, which is rapidly expanding, has the biggest effect over the youngest and most impressionable users.
Over half of all Americans between the ages of 13 and 17 are expected to use TikTok, with a disproportionately large number of those in the 18 to 29 age group being the most frequent users.
TikTok had 1.04 billion users worldwide as of May. By year’s end, it is predicted to reach 1.8 billion users.
The “beauty filters” on the site, which let young girls alter their looks, were specifically mentioned in a number of the complaints filed on Tuesday as possibly causing eating disorders and low self-esteem in young girls.
Studies referenced by Ms. James’ office revealed that 50% of girls think they don’t look good until they alter their appearance, and 77% of them admitted to using beauty filters to cover up or alter certain parts of their bodies.
The lawsuits also accused TikTok of using live content and temporary “stories” to entice users to tune in before they disappear, round-the-clock notifications to disrupt young people’s sleep cycles, a “autoplay” feature that streams videos continuously and cannot be disabled, and a “likes” and comment session to entice young people to the platform’s social approval.
A 60-minute screen time limit that the firm implemented in response to prior parental concerns is another charge leveled against the company in some of the lawsuits. The notion that TikTok enforces time limits is undermined by the fact that users can continue watching after their allotted 60 minutes have elapsed by entering a passcode.
On Tuesday, the following states filed cases in their respective jurisdictions: Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington. These states joined the District of Columbia, New York, and California.
Attorney General Brian Schwalb of Washington, D.C., has filed a case alleging that the site targets children’s brains’ addictive areas with “dopamine-inducing” movies by “employing algorithms and manipulative design features.”
