Lawsuit filed in New York says TikTok harms mental health of young people, misleads public

TikTok is harming the mental health of young people and misleading the public about the platform's safety for young users, 14 states, including New York and New Jersey, alleged in lawsuits filed Tuesday, a barrage of litigation meant to stop TikTok's "exploitative tactics."

The lawsuits, filed individually by each state, accused TikTok of falsely claiming it is safe for young people when many young users are struggling with poor mental health due to the platform's addictive features and are getting injured or dying because of dangerous TikTok "challenges."

Citing internal company documents, the lawsuits said "TikTok knows that compulsive use of and other harmful effects of its platform are wreaking havoc on the mental health of millions of American children and teenagers" but relies on a business model that aims to boost revenue from selling targeted ads aimed at kids. The more time young users spend on the platform, the more ads they can be served.

"The platform's most addictive feature is the For You feed, a literally endless series of short-form videos curated by algorithms that is specifically developed to hold a user's attention for as long as possible," the lawsuit filed in New York said. "The For You feed is one of the numerous features designed to exploit the human body's natural reaction to the receipt of small rewards through the release of the pleasure creating neurotransmitter dopamine, and in turn promote addictive behavior."

The states also took aim at TikTok challenges that have injured, even killed, teen users who participated in these viral stunts to obtain rewards and increase their followers. The lawsuit filed in New York said the mother of a 15-year-old Manhattan boy who died subway surfing February 20, 2023, found videos promoting subway surfing in a challenge on his TikTok account. He also received an ad for a ski mask, which is often used during subway surfing to hide identity.

"Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok," New York Attorney General Letitia James said. "TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true.

The New York lawsuit alleged repeated fraudulent business conduct, deceptive practices and violations of product liability law. It sought financial penalties, punitive damages and for TikTok to give up revenue from ads that targeted pre-teen users.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin also expressed his concerns about TikTok's impact on young people.

"TikTok has violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by designing a platform that consistently and deliberately targets our youth to become more compulsive users without making them or their parents fully aware of the risks," said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin. "Excessive social media use is a significant factor in the growing mental health crisis facing our young people."

A TikTok spokesperson released the following statement:

"We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. We're proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we've done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product. We provide 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. We've endeavored to work with the Attorneys General for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges."

The country's top doctor last year sounded the alarm about the industry .

"The distorted environment of social media does a disservice to children," said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

ABC News Medical Correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton also weighed in on TikTok's algorithm.

"The algorithm can be seen as addictive because it's feeding back what you're looking for," said ABC News Medical Correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton. "You then look for more rewards that leads you to continue scrolling, which inevitably leads you to have more screen time.

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