San Diego

San Diego Alerts

Alert

A picture of the San Diego skyline with the letters SAN.

blue

Axios San Diego Partners

Axios San Diego

Standard

A picture of the San Diego skyline with the letters SAN

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting San Diego.

Axios San Diego Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

San Diego Members

Membership

Tech Policy

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.

San Francisco

Axios San Francisco Partners

San Francisco Alerts

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting San Francisco.

Axios San Francisco Thought Bubble

Get smarter, faster on what matters in San Francisco with Nadia Lopez and Shawna Chen.

Axios San Francisco

San Francisco Members

California sues TikTok over alleged harm to kids

The lawsuits allege Tiktok targets young people with addictive features to make ad money.

Illustration of a briefcase icon in the style of the TikTok logo.  

California

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="legal charge against TikTok" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/tech-policy/2024/10/08/states-sue-tiktok-alleged-harm-kids" data-vars-content-id="e709b2af-7aeb-4978-b06d-ee45a1385aaa" data-vars-headline="California sues TikTok over alleged harm to kids" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/tech-policy/2024/10/08/states-sue-tiktok-alleged-harm-kids" target="_self">legal charge against TikTok</a>, 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, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="many of them teens" data-vars-click-url="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/12/11/teens-social-media-and-technology-2023/" data-vars-content-id="e709b2af-7aeb-4978-b06d-ee45a1385aaa" data-vars-headline="California sues TikTok over alleged harm to kids" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/12/11/teens-social-media-and-technology-2023/" target="_blank">many of them teens</a>.

News

Latest news on Wall Street, Corporate America and financial regulation.

Business

Scoop: Bessent and Wiles met Anthropic's Amodei in sign of thaw

National

The best and worst states for AI data centers

Exclusive: Faith leaders urge Congress to limit AI weapons

Trump officials negotiating access to Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

AI influence network takes shape as cash piles up

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

c-suite

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

boulder

detroit

kansas-city

columbus

austin

dallas

atlanta

washington-dc

nw-arkansas

chicago

indianapolis

nashville

richmond

colorado-springs

houston

san-francisco

seattle

boston

des-moines

salt-lake-city

philadelphia

denver

phoenix

new-orleans

miami

twin-cities

raleigh

san-antonio

portland

san-diego

tampa-bay

cleveland

huntsville

pittsburgh

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Maria Curi

Featured stories

Scoop: Bessent and Wiles met Anthropic's Amodei in sign of thaw

The best and worst states for AI data centers

Exclusive: Faith leaders urge Congress to limit AI weapons

Trump officials negotiating access to Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

AI influence network takes shape as cash piles up