TikTok is being sued by 14 lawyers for allegedly harming the mental health of children | CNN Business

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A bipartisan a group of 14 lawyers across the country filed the lawsuits on Tuesday against TikTok, saying the platform has “addicted” young people and damaged their mental health.

The lawsuits challenge various aspects of the TikTok platform, including its endless feed of content, TikTok’s “challenge” videos that sometimes encourage users to engage in risky behavior and nightly warnings at night that advocates say can disrupt children’s sleep. .

The lawsuits were filed separately by members of the coalition, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. And they mark the latest legal pressure facing TikTok, which is also fighting a law that could see it banned in the United States as soon as next year, a lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice accusing the platform of gathering information of children and several government actions. .

In June, the governor of New York also signed a bill to regulate social media; for example, it will require platforms to show content chronologically to users under 18, which could force TikTok to change the way it works. And last month, 42 federal attorneys general asked U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to require letters warning of the potential danger to new users.

“We strongly disagree with these allegations, many of which we believe are inaccurate and misleading,” TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said in a statement. “We are proud of and remain committed to the work we have done to protect young people and will continue to improve and improve our product. We provide strong protections, we remove suspected users are small, and we have voluntarily introduced safety features.

TikTok, for its part, has repeatedly stated that it believes its platform is safe for children and that it offers safety features such as screen time limits for young users and optional tools for parents.

Haurek added that TikTok “has been trying to work with lawyers for over two years, and it’s very disappointing that they’ve taken this step instead of working with us to resolve industry issues.”

However, the group of countries involved in Tuesday’s TikTok action is not doing enough.

“TikTok’s main business model is focused on increasing the time of new users on the platform so that the company can increase its revenue by selling targeted ads,” said the lawyers. “TikTok uses an addictive, content-recommendation system designed to keep kids on the platform as long as possible and as often as possible, despite the dangers of compulsive use.”

The complaint filed by James says that TikTok “knows that the compulsive use and other negative effects of its platform are harming the mental health of millions of children and adolescents in America.” It also says, “TikTok considers users under the age of 13 a critical demographic,” although it says it allows users 13 and older on the platform. The complaint articles refer to TikTok’s internal documents, although they are largely made up.

James says that the platform’s focus on “profit over safety has made TikTok very profitable,” noting that TikTok’s 2023 US revenue has reached $16 billion, according to the complaint. The complaint also cites a Harvard study that said TikTok could earn $2 billion in ad revenue by 2022 from US teens aged 13 to 17.

TikTok’s so-called beauty videos – which manipulate images of users, often by making them appear thinner or as if they’re wearing makeup – can “promote unhealthy, negative social comparisons” , physical problems, and problems related to mental and physical health” by creating. “An impossible standard” for young people, the complaint says.

It also says that TikTok’s “challenges”, viral trends where users try to copy videos made by others, could encourage dangerous behavior among young users. Earlier this year, a teenage boy died in Brooklyn while riding outside a subway train, a strike known as “subway surfing,” and his mother later “find videos promoting riding the underground with a challenge on his TikTok account,” the complaint. countries. TikTok previously cooperated with New York authorities to take down subway content, the New York Times reported in January.

James’ complaint also accuses TikTok of violating the US Children’s Privacy Protection Act (known as “COPPA”) by failing to prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing the app and collecting personal information. of them without parental consent. It says TikTok says the platform is not for children under 13, but it “features content aimed at children, actors, activities, music and other content as well as advertising aimed at children.”

“By expanding the addictive features of the TikTok platform, TikTok has grown a generation of young users who spend more hours a day on its platform – than they would otherwise choose – which is very harmful to the development of young people and the ability to to take care of their needs and their responsibilities,” said James’ complaint.

The lawsuit seeks financial penalties against TikTok, including a requirement that the platform pay any profits it received from ads aimed at New York teens or pre-teens.

Following the attorney general’s indictments, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report highlighting how pervasive social media is in the lives of young Americans and how connected it is to health. the beauty of the mind.

More than 3 out of 4 high school students are constantly online, using social media several times a day, according to data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. And about 30% of high school students engage in social media more than once an hour.

Students who reported less frequent use of social media were more likely to have negative experiences and attitudes than less frequent users.

About 43% of high school students who use social media regularly say they feel sad or hopeless, compared to 32% of those who use social media regularly. They are also more likely to say that they have been bullied at school and on the Internet, and have thought about suicide.

The research also found that teenage girls are more likely to report poor mental health than boys and are more likely to say they use social media more often.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey has been conducted by the CDC for more than three decades as a way to measure the health of America’s high school students. The latest report, with data through 2023, takes responses from more than 20,000 ninth- through 12th-grade students from a nationally representative sample of 155 schools.

CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report.