The social network TikTok faces new demands from 13 US statesamong which is Washington DC, Reuters reports. The case became known this Tuesday and all of them accuse the platform of harming and not protecting young people.
Lawsuits filed separately in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 10 other states expand Chinese-owned TikTok’s legal fight with U.S. regulators and seek new financial sanctions against the company.
States accuse TikTok of intentionally using addictive software designed to keep minors viewing content as much as possibleand misrepresenting its content moderation effectiveness.
“TikTok cultivates social media addiction to increase corporate profits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know they don’t yet have the defenses or ability to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”
The states insist that TikTok seeks to maximize the amount of time that users spend in the application in order to target ads to them. “Young people are struggling with their mental health due to addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Last week, TikTok “completely disagreed” with accusations that it does not protect children and stated that they offer “robust safeguards for teens and parents.”
For his part, Washington DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleged that the social network operates a streaming business. money without license through its live streaming and virtual currency features.
“The TikTok platform is a product intentionally designed to get young people addicted to their screens,” Schwalb said in an interview.
The Washington lawsuit accuses TikTok of facilitate sexual exploitation of underage users, claiming that TikTok’s livestream and virtual currency “operate like a virtual strip club with no age restrictions.”
Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington state have also filed lawsuits.
Previously, in March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, said they They had launched a nationwide investigation on the impacts of TikTok on young people.
Likewise, the United States Department of Justice sued the social network in August for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy on the application.
Other states previously called out TikTok for failing to protect children from harm, including Utah and Texas. TikTok on Monday rejected the allegations in a court filing.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is fighting a US law that could ban the app in the United States.
#Thirteen #states #sue #TikTok #accuse #platform #harming #failing #protect #young #people
