Washington Washington. New lawsuits were filed against TikTok on Tuesday by 13 US states and the District of Columbia, accusing the popular social media platform of harming youth and failing to protect them. The lawsuits, filed separately in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 11 other states, detail Chinese-owned TikTok's legal battle with US regulators, and seek new financial penalties against the company. States have accused TikTok of knowingly using addictive software designed to keep children watching as long and often as possible and misrepresenting its content moderation effectiveness.
“TikTok promotes social media addiction in order to increase corporate profits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know that children do not yet have the safety or ability to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.” The states say TikTok tries to maximize the time users spend on the app so it can target them with ads. “Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. TikTok said last week that it strongly disagrees with allegations that it fails to protect children, saying, “In fact, we provide strong safeguards for teens and parents.”
Washington DC. U.S. Attorney General Brian Schwab alleged that TikTok operated an unlicensed money transmission business through its live streaming and virtual currency features. “TikTok's platform is dangerous by design. It is an intentionally addictive product, designed to get young people addicted to their screens,” Schwab said in an interview. The Washington lawsuit accuses TikTok of facilitating the sexual exploitation of underage users, saying that TikTok's live streaming and virtual currency “function like a virtual strip club without any age restrictions.” Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington state also filed suit on Tuesday.
In March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, said they had launched a nationwide investigation into the effects of TikTok on youth. The US Justice Department sued TikTok in August for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy on the app. Earlier, other states including Utah and Texas had sued TikTok for failing to protect children from harm. TikTok rejected the allegations in a court filing on Monday. TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is battling a US law that could ban the app in the United States.
Comments are closed.