US attorneys general sue TikTok, accusing it of harming children's mental health

Fourteen attorneys general, led by officials in New York and California, filed lawsuits on October 8 accusing the social media platform TikTok of damaging young users’ mental health and collecting their data without consent, Report informs via NBC News.

The legal broadside, organized by a bipartisan coalition of 14 law enforcement officers, alleges TikTok violated state laws by falsely claiming its service is safe for young people. The lawsuits were filed individually.

The lawsuits are focused partly on what the plaintiffs call “addictive” features, including 24/7 notifications and video autoplay. The filings also concentrate on “dangerous TikTok ‘challenges’” and the collection of data about users under 13 without parental consent — an alleged violation of federal online privacy law.

In a statement, a spokesperson for TikTok said: "We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we 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."

"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 spokesperson added. "We've endeavored to work with the Attorneys General for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges."