NC AG Josh Stein sues TikTok, arguing potential harm to children

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Attorney General Josh Stein and a bipartisan group of 12 attorneys general announced Tuesday they were suing TikTok and its parent company ByteDance Ltd. The group claims the app has shown to be harmful to children.

The attorneys general allege that TikTok designed its app to be addictive while misrepresenting the mental, emotional and physical risks the app posed to young users.

“TikTok knowingly created a product that harmed children, and then it deceived everyone about how dangerous and addictive the product was,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “They did this to make more money. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling – you have to be honest about the risks, and you have to follow the law. TikTok failed in both regards, and our children suffer. So, I’m taking them to court to make them do better by our kids.”

Attorney General Stein’s lawsuit alleges that TikTok:

1. Designed its app to addict young kids with features including infinite scroll, autoplay, likes, filters, algorithmic recommendations, notifications and alerts.
2. Misrepresented that the app was safe for kids, when its executives and employees admitted that they knew TikTok addicts and harms children.
3. Deceived parents and the public by advertising that it had safety guidelines in place to protect kids, including screentime management and content moderation. Those features did not work as advertised.

The attorneys general say the average TikTok user is between 13 and 17 years old, and uses the app for an average of nearly two hours a day. About a quarter spend nearly three hours or more on the app, Stein’s office said. The group of attorneys general claims the hours that kids spend on TikTok every day disrupts their sleep, interrupts their attention in school and detracts from their time with family and friends.

Their lawsuit claims TikTok has known about the dangers the app poses, but leaders have refused to make changes to their business model.

Stein is seeking injunctive and monetary relief, including asking the court to order TikTok to stop violating the law and to pay penalties.

Tuesday’s lawsuit against TikTok is Stein’s second lawsuit alleging that social media platforms are harming children. In October 2023, he sued Meta , which owns Instagram and Facebook, for similar claims.

Stein is joined in filing this bipartisan lawsuit by the Attorneys General of New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia and California.

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