Fourteen state prosecutor commanders, including Letitia James of New York and Rob Bonta of California, filed suit on Tuesday against the social media large TikTok, alleging that the system is addicting and has harmed children’s mental health.
Advertisement
The AGs even allege that TikTok is collecting information on children improperly. TikTolk has denied that argument in the past after the U. S. Department of Justice filed suit in August alleging the company is violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act ( COPPA ) by “allowing children to create accounts without their parents ’ knowledge or consent. ”
Last month, 42 position AGs called on U. S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to demand alert labels on social media apps reminder of their potential damage to younger people.
TikTok denies any crime.
“We strongly disagree with these states, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading, ” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement. “We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect youths and we will continue to update and increase our product. We provide strong safeguards, actively remove suspected young users, and have freely launched safety features. ”
“Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok, ” James said in a statement. “TikTok says that their system is safe for young folks, but that is far from accurate. ”
The claims claim there are “addictive functions” built into the systems including 24/7 alerts and film playback. The AGs also mention the” TikTok challenges” that often feature dangerous stunts.
“TikTok’s underlying business model focuses on maximizing young users ’ time on the platform so the company can boost revenue from selling targeted ads, ” the attorneys general said in a statement. “TikTok uses an addicted, content-recommendation program designed to keep adolescents on the program as long as possible and as often as possible, despite the dangers of persistent usage. ”
Advertisement
In recent years, a growing number of heath experts have sounded the alarm about the effects of excessive social media use on mental and physical health, especially among children and teenagers.
In a statement released in May 2023, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that social internet use is a major contributor to depression, stress and other problems in the nation’s youth.
Murthy also wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in June calling on Congress to demand a tobacco-style alert for customers to social media platforms, arguing that urgent action is needed to safeguard young people from the possible psychological health harms of social media.
Congress looked into the question of TikTok’s data collection and found that it was n’t any worse than other social media companies. The fact that the system’s family firm, Bytedance, is based in China and owned by the Chinese government is the real issue.
TikTok “knows that habitual use of and other harmful results of its app are wreaking havoc on the emotional wellbeing of millions of American children and teenagers. ” says the match that James filed.
“TikTok considers users under the age of 13 to be a critical demographic, ” despite claiming that it only lets users 13 and older use its app.
James alleges that the platform’s focus on “profits over safety has make TikTok extremely profitable, ” noting that TikTok’s 2023 US revenue reached$ 16 billion, according to the complaint. The complaint also cites a Harvard research that claimed TikTok earned$ 2 billion in advertising revenue in 2022 from US adolescents aged 13 to 17.
TikTok’s so-called charm filtering– which manipulate customers ’ pictures, often by making them appear thinner or as if they are wearing makeup – is “encourage detrimental, negative social comparison, body image issues, and related mental and physical health disorders” by creating “an difficult regular ” for teens, the complaint alleges.
Advertisement
The panic over social media is overblown and would n’t be necessary if parents monitored their children’s online presence more closely. However, exploiting and manipulating children using algorithms and subtle influence techniques ca n’t be allowed.
I’m not sure how much damage these platforms do to a kid’s mental health. There are certainly other factors that contribute to teenage angst and depression. Removing social media from the equation certainly ca n’t hurt a child’s mental well-being.