Tech
14 U.S. states file class-action lawsuit against TikTok “for harming children’s mental health”
The Attorney General alludes to various addictive elements of the app to make their case against it and launch a new legal tangle against the Chinese app.
The war between the United States and TikTok is far from over. A coalition of 14 state attorneys general have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Chinese app, claiming it creates addiction and damages the mental health of minors.
These lawsuits refer to elements such as the infinite content feed in the “For You” section or the short films that encourage users to take on challenges that often represent risky situations not only for the mental health of the user, but also for their physical health. There is also the system of automatic notifications at night, which has been accused of disturbing the sleep of minors.
New battle in the US-TikTok war
“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,” said Letitia James, New York’s attorney general.
Meanwhile, the use of filters and effects to make short films more eye-catching or their protagonists appear more attractive than they really are is also questioned. “Beauty filters can cause body image issues and encourage eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and other health-related problems,” the document says.
“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content,” said California District Attorney Rob Bonta. The 14 prosecutors are both Democrats and Republicans. “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,” said Bonta.
The lawsuit is based on an investigation conducted 2 years ago into an application that reached a whopping 150 million users per month in the United States last year.