The attorneys general alleged that the company employs manipulative features designed to keep minors engaged compulsively.
More than a dozen states are coming together to sue TikTok, joining many other states that had previously done so, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Oct. 8.
The attorneys general announced that they are co-leading a bipartisan coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing suits against the social media company.
The legal actions, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court and other jurisdictions, accuse the social media platform of exploiting and harming young users while deceiving the public about its dangers.
“Our investigation has revealed that TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits,” Bonta said in a statement. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content. When we look at the youth mental health crisis and the revenue machine TikTok has created, fueled by the time and attention of our young people, it’s devastatingly obvious: Our children and teens never stood a chance against these social media behemoths.”
A TikTok spokesperson told The Epoch Times that they “strongly disagree” with the claims by the attorneys general, many of which they believe to be “inaccurate and misleading.”
“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,” Michael Hughes, a TikTok spokesperson said in an email. “We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16.”
The company added they have tried to work with the attorneys general for over two years, stating it is “incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges.”
The lawsuits allege that TikTok’s business model focuses on maximizing young users’ time on the platform to increase revenue from targeted advertising.
By Chase Smith
