California among 14 states suing TikTok, alleging harm to children's mental health

California is one of 14 states now suing the popular social media platform TikTok.

The lawsuits filed on Tuesday claim the social media giant is hurting children's mental health and potentially their physical well-being.

"We have been involved in a two-and-a-half-year investigation into TikTok for its practices and the impact it has on young people's mental health," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Bonta says TikTok has hooked millions of teens and young adults, allegedly leading to mental and physical harm.

The complaint claims TikTok's business model focuses on maximizing young users' time on the platform, keeping them mindlessly scrolling and jumping on sometimes dangerous trends.

Read the full lawsuit down below:

"It harms self-esteem. It triggers body image issues and even physical and mental health disorders. TikTok has known that," Bonta explained.

For Fresno mom and business owner Des Washington, the platform has helped her as grow an entrepreneur, but she also understands the concerns that come with it.

"I think I am still trying to keep the healthy balance. It is a great tool to reach folks. At the end of the day, regardless of my feelings about it, the mass majority of people have subscribed and are engaged." said Washington.

Washington says her kids are too young to have phones or social media accounts, but she believes it's important for parents to monitor their screen time to help keep them safe.

"The internet in general is a really dangerous place for kids so it's our job to stay on top of what they are seeing, what they are doing, who they are communicating with, period. TikTok or otherwise." Washington explained.

A TikTok spokesperson responded to the lawsuit in a statement, writing:

"We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading."

The statement goes on to say that TikTok provides "robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16."

TikTok also says it has tried to work with the 14 attorney generals for over two years and is disappointed they've taken this step.

Last month, Senate Bill 976 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The bill provides new protections for young people by resetting the defaults on social media platforms to disfavor addictive algorithmic feeds, notifications, and other addictive design features that lead children and teens to spend hours and hours on their platforms.

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