A group of 14 US states sued TikTok on Tuesday, accusing it of luring young users with addictive features, then damaging their brains and violating their privacy.
The wave of local court lawsuits demanding corrective measures and financial penalties comes as the popular video-snippet sharing app faces a ban in the United States if it remains owned by China-based ByteDance.
“Our investigation shows that TikTok creates social media addiction in order to boost corporate profits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release issued jointly with officials from other states.
“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids don’t yet have the safety or ability to form healthy boundaries around addictive content.”
Bonta argued that features such as beauty filters, endless scrolling, autoplay videos, and “likes” take advantage of youth’s curiosity and lack of will to stop.
The lawsuits argue that TikTok then influences young users with money-making ads.
TikTok called the claims false and misleading.
TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a response, “We have attempted to work with the Attorney General for more than two years, and it is incredibly disappointing that he has refused to work with us on creative solutions to industry-wide challenges.” Instead of doing this, this step has been taken.” AFP enquiry.
Hughes cited TikTok security measures, including booting suspected users under the age of 13, default screen time limits and privacy settings for minors using the app.
“Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“TikTok claims that their platform is safe for youth, but this is far from the truth,” he said.
TikTok is fighting the threat of a US ban in a federal appeals court, arguing it violates free speech rights.
The law, set to take effect early next year, would require the app to divest itself of its Chinese ownership or be banned in the United States.
The US government alleges that TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. It also says that TikTok is a means of spreading propaganda. China and the company strongly deny these claims.
TikTok has until January to find a buyer or face a ban, which would hurt the social media business and anger many of the app’s 170 million US users.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
