More than a dozen US states have filed a lawsuit against the social network TikTok, claiming that the platform is causing mental health crises among teenagers.
This was reported by the BBC.
A bipartisan group of 14 U.S. attorneys general claims that TikTok uses addictive features. These include notifications that disrupt sleep, videos that disappear, forcing users to check the platform frequently, and filters and masks that change appearance.
In the United States, they say that people think that long-term use of a social network is safe, but children are becoming addicted. This makes teenagers feel more sad and anxious.
New York Attorney General Letitia James recalled the case of a 15-year-old boy who died because he was riding on the roof of a subway car. According to her, his mother later found a similar video on TikTok on his phone.
Lawsuits were filed in 13 states and the District of Columbia, where the attorney general also accused the company of running an unlicensed money transfer business through the offer of “virtual currency.” The lawsuits demand that the court regulate the social network’s functions and that TikTok pay fines.