TikTok, a social media platform with about 120 million active users in the United States, has been sued by 13 US states and Washington, DC, for allegedly harming and failing to protect young people.
Fourteen attorneys general said Tuesday that TikTok is harming children’s mental health as it relies on addictive features that keep users glued to its platform. They said these features include notifications that can disrupt kids’ sleep patterns and video autoplay that attracts young people’s eyes.
They claimed that some children were injured after accepting dangerous “viral challenges” circulated on TikTok’s platform.
Citing a Harvard study, the complaint said TikTok earned US$2 billion in advertising revenue in 2022 from ads targeted at US teens aged 13-17. In 2023, TikTok’s net advertising revenue amounted to $8.75 billion, compared with $5.96 billion in 2022 and $2.1 billion in 2021, according to eMarketer.
“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading,” TikTok said in a statement on Tuesday. “We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen time limits, family pairing and privacy by default for minors under 16.”
TikTok said it has endeavored to work with the attorneys general for over two years but found it “incredibly disappointing” that they have taken the latest step rather than work with the company on constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges.
As of July 2024, TikTok had 1.6 billion active users worldwide, making it the world’s fifth most popular social media platform after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram, according to Statista.
Indonesia led the world with the largest TikTok audience, boasting nearly 157.6 million active users. It was followed by the US and Brazil, with 120.5 million and 105.2 million active users, respectively.
In the US, about a quarter of all TikTok users belong to the age group of 10 to 19 years while 47.4% of TikTok users are under 30.
‘Dopamine-inducing’ algorithm
The average time spent on TikTok is 58.4 minutes a day in 2024, compared with 55.4 minutes in 2023, according to eMarketer.
TikTok users aged 18-24 spent 76 minutes a day on TikTok while those aged 25-34 spent 50 minutes. The average time spent on TikTok a day decreases with age.
”Child and adolescent brains, which lack the impulse control of adults, are particularly susceptible to exploitation through the desire, reward and reinforcement system that endless scrolling provides,” the Office of the Attorney General in the District of Columbia said in a filing to the local court.
“To get users hooked on the app, TikTok uses a dopamine-inducing algorithm that spoon-feeds users highly tailored videos to keep them trapped on the platform for hours on end,” it added.
Some Chinese netizens said the lawsuits against TikTok can help protect users’ rights. But some said Facebook and YouTube should face more scrutiny as their short videos are much more addictive.
Some medical researchers have pointed out that exposure to social media can overstimulate the brain’s reward center and cause sleep and attention problems, and feelings of exclusion in adolescents.
In October 2023, Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was sued by 33 US states for allegedly misleading the public over addictive features targeting children.
According to the plaintiffs, Meta’s social media platforms were accused of using “psychologically manipulative” features to lure younger users to spend more time on them.
Meta said in a statement at that time that it was developing features and policies to meet the needs of teens and their families. It said it has implemented features to remove harmful content related to “suicide, self injury or eating disorders.”
Children’s privacy
In the latest lawsuits filed by the 13 US states and Washington D.C., TikTok was accused of having introduced two new dangerous features – a live-streaming feature called TikTok LIVE and a virtual currency system called TikTok Coins – in 2019.
The complaint said TikTok users buy the coins to send virtual gifts during LIVE sessions. Streamers can cash out the coins for real money.
It said TikTok’s lax age verification measures incentivize US minors to lie about their ages to gain access to LIVE. It said LIVE’s design, including TikTok Coins and virtual gifts, enables other serious harms to minors including sexual exploitation.
On October 3, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against TikTok for allegedly violating the state’s Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act. Paxton said TikTok has failed to offer tools for parents and guardians to manage and control their minors’ privacy and account settings.
A TikTok spokesperson said the firm strongly disagrees with these allegations as it offers robust safeguards for teens and parents, including family pairing.
Some Chinese commentators criticized TikTok for failing to meet the legal requirements overseas.
“The alleged infringement of children’s privacy is like a mirror that reflects how technology giants have lost their moral way while chasing profits,” a Beijing-based columnist says in a recent article. “It reminds us that no matter how technological advancement progresses, the protection of children’s privacy should always be an insurmountable red line.”
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Follow Jeff Pao on X at @jeffpao3
By that logic, all video game developers and social media companies should be charged too. Heck, even hollywood should be charged too.
if we cannot fight fair, we will fight dirty. the anglo MO