What happened
A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging that the social media app was addictive and harmful to the mental health of children.
Who said what
The lawsuits, each filed in state court, accuse TikTok of "knowingly contributed to a mental health crisis among American teenagers to maximize its advertising revenue," The New York Times said. The app, which claims 170 million monthly U.S. users, was designed to trap children with addictive features like buzzing push notifications, endless scrolling and beauty filters that promote unhealthy body images, anxiety and depression, the attorneys general argue. The D.C. lawsuit calls TikTok's algorithm "dopamine-inducing."
The legal challenges against TikTok and other social media platforms, including YouTube and Instagram, are "part of a growing reckoning" aimed at protecting the mental health of young people, The Associated Press said. The coordinated lawsuits resemble how states "previously organized against the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
TikTok said it "strongly" disagrees with the states' "inaccurate and misleading claims," and is "deeply committed" to protecting teens.
What next?
Yesterday's lawsuits are "just the latest legal pressure facing TikTok," CNN said. Notably, the company is fighting to reverse a total U.S. ban slated to start next year unless the app cuts ties with its Chinese owner ByteDance. The 14 attorneys general are seeking to bar TikTok from using the allegedly addictive features and to impose financial penalties and damages for users harmed by them.
-
Apple bows to Trump administration pressure over ICE tracking appsIn the Spotlight It’s the latest company to capitulate to Trump’s demands
-
Can TrumpRx really lower drug prices?Today’s Big Question Pfizer’s deal with Trump sent drugmaker stocks higher
-
‘Every argument has a rational, emotional, and rhetorical component’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Is the UK government getting too close to Big Tech?Today’s Big Question US-UK tech pact, supported by Nvidia and OpenAI, is part of Silicon Valley drive to ‘lock in’ American AI with US allies
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Trump allies reportedly poised to buy TikTokSpeed Read Under the deal, U.S. companies would own about 80% of the company
-
South Korea's divide over allowing Google MapsTalking Points The country is one of few modern democracies where the app doesn't work
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
What an all-bot social network tells us about social mediaUnder The Radar The experiment's findings 'didn't speak well of us'
-
Broken brains: The social price of digital lifeFeature A new study shows that smartphones and streaming services may be fueling a sharp decline in responsibility and reliability in adults
-
The Hermit Kingdom's laptop warriorsFeature American firms are unwittingly hiring IT workers with a second job—as North Korean operatives
