The state of Utah is suing TikTok for allegedly “addicting children,” and deceiving consumers about the safety of its product, and misrepresenting how “enmeshed” it is with its China-based parent company.
“TikTok has designed its application in ways it knows are harmful — especially to teens — with devastating effect,” the lawsuit states, citing instances of minors dying when attempting to perform daring “challenges” for “dopamine-rewarding ‘likes’ on the app.”
Specifically, the “harmful content” mentioned in the lawsuit includes videos about weight loss, dieting, and self-harm, while “incredibly disturbing, gruesome videos” include depict “beheadings, mass shootings, suicide, and eating disorders.”
It’s not just content that children can be exposed to, but also they are exposed to dangerous strangers. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), there were 288,125 reports of online exploitation of children, including sexual abuse material, on TikTok in 2022.
National Review reports:
Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection filed a lawsuit in the third judicial district court county of Salt Lake on Tuesday, arguing that TikTok violates the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (UCSPA). The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s “deceptive conduct” includes “marketing an addictive product with design features intended to manipulate children,” misrepresenting that the app is safe, and misleadingly portraying itself as an independent U.S.-based company despite being “controlled” by China-based parent company ByteDance.
“What these [Utah] children (and their parents) do not know is that TikTok is lying to them about the safety of its app and exploiting them into checking and watching the app compulsively, no matter the terrible effects it has on their mental health, their physical development, their family, and their social life,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit argues that TikTok is “especially concerning for Utah” because the state has the “largest percentage of children per capita in the nation,” with just over a quarter of the population being age 18 or younger.