Utah is suing TikTok for allegedly “addicting children,” deceiving consumers about the safety of its product, and misrepresenting how “enmeshed” it is with its China-based parent company.
“TikTok has designed its application in ways it knows are harmful — especially to teens — with devastating effect,” the lawsuit states, citing instances of minors dying when attempting to perform daring “challenges” for “dopamine-rewarding ‘likes’ on the app.”
Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection filed a lawsuit in the third judicial district court county of Salt Lake on Tuesday, arguing that TikTok violates the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (UCSPA). The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s “deceptive conduct” includes “marketing an addictive product with design features intended to manipulate children,” misrepresenting that the app is safe, and misleadingly portraying itself as an independent U.S.-based company despite being “controlled” by China-based parent company ByteDance.
“What these [Utah] children (and their parents) do not know is that TikTok is lying to them about the safety of its app and exploiting them into checking and watching the app compulsively, no matter the terrible effects it has on their mental health, their physical development, their family, and their social life,” the lawsuit states.
Utah cites that “harmful content” on TikTok includes videos about weight loss, dieting, and self-harm, while “incredibly disturbing, gruesome videos” include depict “beheadings, mass shootings, suicide, and eating disorders.”
The lawsuit argues that TikTok is “especially concerning for Utah” because the state has the “largest percentage of children per capita in the nation,” with just over a quarter of the population being age 18 or younger.
“Unfortunately, the result is that TikTok’s youngest, most vulnerable users become trapped, spending excessive, unhealthy amounts of time on the app, which TikTok knows is contributing to a mental health crisis among teens in Utah,” the lawsuit reads.
Utah cites that, in 2023, 17.6 percent of all Utah students seriously considered attempting suicide and 19.8 percent reported purposeful self-harm, including cutting or burning themselves.
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok insufficiently enforces its policies for removing “harmful content,” citing the availability of videos “promoting or normalizing risky sexual behaviors to teens,” such as “choking” or “sex without a condom.”
“The TikTok app is a perfect playground for child predators,” the lawsuit states. “TikTok serves these child predators an infinite number of videos with children dancing, and myriad ways for them to interact with young users — including through likes, follows, comments, and direct messages.”
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), there were 288,125 reports of online exploitation of children, including sexual abuse material, on TikTok in 2022. U.S.-based electronic service providers are legally required to report instances of “apparent child pornography” to NCMEC when they become aware of them.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox argued that TikTok is “misleading parents that its app is safe for children.”
“Social media companies must be held responsible for the harms they are causing. The experts — from the U.S. Surgeon General and behavioral science researchers to parents and teens — all agree that social media is affecting our children’s mental health and it’s time to intervene,” Cox said in a press release.