Attorney General Josh Stein and a group of bipartisan attorneys are suing TikTok and their parent company, ByteDance Ltd., alleging that the company deliberately misled the public about the safety of using the app, especially for children, claiming that the app was purposely designed to keep children addicted. California and New York are leading the charge.
Attorney General Stein is seeking injunctive and monetary relief, including asking the court to order TikTok to stop violating the law and to pay penalties.
“TikTok knowingly created a product that harmed children, and then it deceived everyone about how dangerous and addictive the product was,” said Stein in a press release. “They did this to make more money. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling – you have to be honest about the risks, and you have to follow the law. TikTok failed in both regards, and our children suffer. So, I’m taking them to court to make them do better by our kids.”
On Tuesday, lawsuits were filed separately in each state and the District of Columbia; the lawsuits allege that TikTok violated consumer protection laws and contributed to the teenage mental health crisis. The lawsuits are requesting that the courts financially penalize TikTok. A bipartisan group of attorneys is leading this effort.
“Certain apps contain content that is not appropriate for children or teens, and digital literacy is essential to 21st-century parenting,” Brooke Medina, VP of Communications for the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “To the extent that TikTok has engaged in actual unfair and deceptive trade practices, Attorney General Stein is within his role as the state’s lead attorney to demand TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, be held accountable.”
TikTok is already in litigation fighting a US ban on the app which is set to begin on January 19, 2025, unless TikTok cuts its ties with the parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance Ltd, according to a report by NPR.
“Used by half of America, TikTok will now be defending itself against a barrage of state lawsuits that tap into growing national unease with the design of social media platforms and questions over whether the over-use of social media contributes to mental health problems like depression and body issues,” reported NPR.
Earlier this year, the Carolina Journal reported that North Carolina is seeing a decline in social media usage.
The lawsuits also target TikTok’s use of beauty filters, allowing users to alter themselves.
“Beauty filters have been especially harmful to young girls, with studies reporting that 50 percent of girls believe they do not look good without editing their features and 77 percent saying they try to change or hide at least one part of their body using these filters,” NY Attorney General, Letitia James, said in a press release. “Beauty filters can cause body image issues and encourage eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and other health-related problems.”
Notably, TikTok is not the only social media app that utilizes filters; Snapchat and Instagram also allow users to alter photos with filters.
However, experts disagree with James’ assessment.
“There are other elements of the AG’s lawsuit that raise an eyebrow, such as claims that TikTok’s “Effects” filters cause body dysmorphia,” continued Medina. “Growing up is hard, no matter what decade you grow up in, and unrealistic beauty standards are not unique to today’s children. Just ask a girl growing up in the early 2000s who read Seventeen magazine, well before the advent of social media as we know it.”
This is not the first time that Stein has targeted social media platforms. In October 2023, Stein and more than 40 other bipartisan attorneys sued Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, alleging a similar claim that the platforms were purposefully designed to be addictive to children.
“This lawsuit seems to go beyond the scope of government’s role and the best thing Attorney General Stein can do for North Carolinians is to spend his department’s time and taxpayer-funded resources going after actual legal harms and leave the parenting to parents,” said Medina.
The candidates for the attorney general’s race Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-D14, and Rep. Dan Bishop, R-D8, did not respond to the Carolina Journal’s requests for comment on the lawsuit.