California sues TikTok over alleged harm to kids
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a legal charge against TikTok, suing the social media company for allegedly using addictive features on young people to make ad money.
Why it matters: 170 million people in the U.S. use TikTok, many of them teens.
State of play: 14 attorneys general across the country led by Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed separate lawsuits for violations against consumer protection laws.
- The AGs list manipulative features including beauty filters, endless scroll, push notifications, and likes and comments that TikTok "deceptively" claims are safe for young people.
- The AGs also claim TikTok knows users are younger than 13 and still collects and uses their data without parental consent.
Between the lines: Bonta alleges TikTok violated California's consumer protection statutes, the Unfair Competition Law, and the False Advertising Law.
- The state is seeking significant penalties, as well as injunctive and monetary relief.
What they're saying: "In New York and across the country, young people have died or gotten injured doing dangerous TikTok challenges and many more are feeling more sad, anxious, and depressed because of TikTok's addictive features," James said in a press release.
The other side: TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement, "We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading."
Flashback: Last year, California and dozens of other states filed similar lawsuits against Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and those cases are still pending.
The big picture: Social media companies are facing pressure to better protect kids online at the state and federal levels.
- TikTok is also facing a potential ban by mid-January in the U.S. over national security concerns, with a three-judge panel set to soon decide whether Congress' sale-or-ban law is constitutional.
Zoom in: Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed California's new law prohibiting social media platforms from deliberately delivering addictive feeds to minors without parental consent.
- It will also limit them from sending minors notifications late at night or during school hours. The law goes into effect in 2027.
- "Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children – isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom wrote in a news release.