NY, NJ join multistate lawsuits against TikTok over youth mental health concerns

New York Attorney General Letitia James and more than a dozen other state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against TikTok, accusing the social media giant of falsely claiming its platform is safe for young people, despite research suggesting otherwise, officials said on Tuesday.

It’s the latest effort by officials in the New York region to hold TikTok and other social media platforms accountable for their impact on minors' mental health. The lawsuits aim to impose financial penalties on the platform, including "disgorgement of all profits resulting from the [alleged] fraudulent and illegal practices" and damages for users purportedly harmed by the platform, according to a press release from James' office.

James last month joined attorneys general from more than 40 states in calling on the federal government to mandate warning labels on social media platforms due to the potential harm they pose to young users. Now, 13 other attorneys general have joined New York in the litigation against TikTok, including those from California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington state and the District of Columbia.

“TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true,” said James, who co-led the coalition of attorneys general along with California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “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.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration declared a “ public health crisis hazard ” earlier this year over social media’s alleged effect on minors’ mental health. The city has also sued TikTok , along with other social media platforms, while local lawmakers have passed legislation blocking social media sites from using algorithms and other tactics to keep young users on the platform for extended periods.

More than 78% of parents believe the government should restrict how social media companies provide access to teenagers, according to a recent report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The same report found that mental health diagnoses and symptoms increase with social media use and that teenagers in low-income areas use social media more frequently than their wealthier peers.

“As a parent and as the chief law enforcement officer for New Jersey, I’m here to tell TikTok, as I have told other social media companies in the past, that our kids are more than just data points to be monetized to advertisers to the detriment of their mental and physical health,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement on Tuesday.

A TikTok spokesperson told Gothamist that the claims made in the lawsuits are “inaccurate and misleading,” adding that the platform has tried to collaborate with James and other officials in the past.

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen time limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” spokesperson Alex Haurek said via email.

Haurek said TikTok has attempted to work with James' office for more than two years. "It is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industry wide challenges," he said.