Shreya Varanasi, Pune
On Tuesday, 13 States and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok, claiming that the well-known short-form video app is made to be addicting for children and is detrimental to their mental health.
The Chinese-owned TikTok app is facing more legal action from American officials in the form of lawsuits filed independently in New York, California, the District of Columbia, and thirteen other states. The cases seek financial fines against the corporation. The states accuse TikTok of deceiving the public about the efficiency of its content moderation and of deploying purposefully addictive software to keep kids viewing for extended periods of time.
In a news statement released in unison with representatives from other states, California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that their investigation has revealed that TikTok uses social media addiction to boost corporate profits. Bonta added that the China-based company’s app intentionally targets children because they know young kids do not yet have the defences or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.
According to Bonta, beauty filters, endless scrolling, autoplay movies, and “likes” are just a few examples of features that take advantage of children’s natural curiosity and weakness. The lawsuits contend that TikTok bombards young users with commercials that make money.
According to Washington’s complaint, TikTok’s live broadcasting and virtual money function like an age-insensitive virtual strip club, enabling the sexual abuse of minors. On Tuesday, lawsuits were also filed by the states of Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington.
The allegations were deemed false and deceptive by TikTok. The company stated on Tuesday that it was unhappy the states decided to sue rather than collaborate with them on positive solutions to industry-wide problems. It further added that it completely disagreed with the accusations, many of which we consider to be false and deceptive. According to it, the app offers privacy defaults for youngsters under 16 and default screen time limits.
TikTok may be bound to a US ban as a result of claims that it violates people’s right to free expression. According to the US government, TikTok gives Beijing the ability to gather information, snoop on app users, and disseminate propaganda. The company disputes these assertions. TikTok’s 170 million US users will be impacted by the social media company’s decision to remove it if it doesn’t find a buyer by January.