More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the popular short-form video app is harming youth mental health by designing its platform to be addictive to kids.
The lawsuits stem from a national investigation into TikTok, launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from many states, including New York, California, Kentucky, and New Jersey. All of the complaints were filed in state courts.
At the heart of each lawsuit is the TikTok algorithm, which powers what users see on the platform by populating the app’s main “For You” feed with content tailored to people’s interests
The claims also highlight design elements that they claim lead to children becoming addicted to the platform, including the capability of continually scrolling through information, push alerts with built-in “buzzes,” and facial filters that give users unachievable looks.
The District of Columbia described the algorithm as “dopamine-inducing” in their pleadings, claiming that it was designed to be purposefully addictive in order to entice numerous teenage users to overuse and spend hours on end on the app. According to the lawsuit, TikTok engages in these practices even though it is aware that they will cause “profound psychological and physiological harms,” including anxiety, sadness, body dysmorphia, and other chronic issues.
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