The state of Utah has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese-owned app TikTok, accusing it of harming children by compelling young users to engage in unhealthy screen time on the popular short-form video-sharing platform.
This legal action is the latest move challenging the prominent app in the United States, following similar lawsuits filed by Indiana and Arkansas.
Just last month, a federal judge in California barred the enforcement of a law aimed at protecting children when they use the internet.
Sean Reyes, Utah’s Attorney General, stated, “What these children and their parents don’t know is that TikTok lies to them about safety and exploits them for compulsive viewing, regardless of the horrendous effects on mental health, physical health, families, and social life.”
The lawsuit claims that video content leverages manipulative algorithms and design features that mimic many aspects of slot machines.
As a result of these manipulative tactics, young consumers become addicted to the platform.
In response, TikTok, owned by ByteDance, has stated that it offers safeguards for young users, including a 60-minute daily time limit for users under 18 and parental control tools for teenage accounts.
Reyes emphasized that the state’s investigation is ongoing, and it will seek the court’s order for TikTok to comply with the state’s subpoena in the coming week.
Utah aims to impose civil penalties in addition to a court order preventing TikTok from violating the state’s consumer protection law.
Indiana’s lawsuit against TikTok, filed in December, is still pending in the state court, while Arkansas filed a lawsuit in March against both TikTok and Meta Platforms over addictive platforms.
Several Republican lawmakers last year pointed out that many children are subjected to a continuous stream of inappropriate content, which the TikTok algorithm forces upon them.
The judge is currently hearing arguments in a TikTok lawsuit that seeks to block Montana’s impending ban on the app, set to take effect in January after Montana’s legislature approved the ban over espionage concerns.
TikTok has maintained it spent over $1.5 billion on strict data security efforts and has rejected spying claims.
As the U.S. Congress has been reviewing legislation for months, considering whether to allow the Biden administration to restrict or ban TikTok due to potential espionage risks, the app remains at the center of legal and regulatory scrutiny.
