A bipartisan group of more than a dozen state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok on Tuesday, including a complaint accusing the company of deceiving users by claiming its app was safe for children despite its addictive features , and was suspected of operating an unlicensed remittance business.
“Our lawsuit seeks to hold TikTok accountable for harming Washington’s children.” Attorney General Brian Schwalb D.C. said in an interview with CNBC.
Schwalb’s lawsuit claims that compulsive use of TikTok poses a “serious” range of mental health risks to teens and children, including depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation and body dysmorphia.
Schwalb called the app, which allows users to create, share and watch short videos, “digital nicotine” and said TikTok was “deliberately getting young people addicted to its platform.”
He said the app was “causing huge harm to an entire generation of young people”.
“In addition to prioritizing profits over children’s health, TikTok’s unregulated and illegal virtual economy allows the darkest and most depraved corners of society to prey on vulnerable victims,” Schwalb said. “The company knows it is What happened but chose to ignore it. This lawsuit seeks to end their illegal, deceptive and predatory conduct.
More than half of 13- to 17-year-olds in the United States use the app. Globally, TikTok has more than 1 billion active users.
Schwalb’s lawsuit accuses TikTok of violating Washington, D.C.’s consumer protection laws and accuses TikTok of “using algorithms and manipulative design features” to attract young users by triggering a burst of dopamine in their impressionable brains.
“TikTok knew its design features made its app more addictive and kept users engaged for longer,” the Washington Superior Court lawsuit said.
“While this may be good for business, it has dangerous implications for children.”
The complaint also alleges that in 2019, the company launched “two new dangerous features”: a live broadcast function called TikTok LIVE and a virtual currency system called TikTok “Coins.”
“TikTok stands out for its use of coins, an unlicensed virtual currency,” the lawsuit states. “Users purchase tokens to send virtual ‘gifts’ during live broadcasts, which streamers can exchange for real money. TikTok Users are incentivized to live stream with the promise of ‘monetary rewards’ as ‘(their) content becomes more popular.’
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok “earns substantial revenue” from its tokens, charging commissions of up to 50% on each transaction.
The lawsuit alleges that the app’s virtual currency withdrawal and withdrawal process is a “virtual currency transmission system” that ignores Washington law by failing to obtain a required money transmission license.
Moreover, “Although the current minimum age requirement for LIVE (including live broadcasts and gifts) is 18 and over, TikTok knew that its lax age verification measures would incentivize U.S. minors to lie about their age to gain access,” Schwab said in the lawsuit Middle name.
The complaint also alleges that LIVE’s designs, including coins and gifts, “could cause other serious harm to minors, including sexual exploitation.”
“TikTok is fully aware that these features combine to create an environment where children are often sexually exploited by users, but it chooses to turn a blind eye in order to increase profitability,” Schwalb’s office said in a release.
TikTok’s U.S. headquarters are in Los Angeles, but it has a significant lobbying arm and offices in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit notes that the company recently announced a partnership with the NHL’s Washington Capitals Hockey Team to put TikTok’s logo on their away game jerseys for the upcoming season.
The lawsuit seeks a permanent ban on TikTok for violating consumer protection laws and orders the payment of damages to users as well as civil penalties.
Schwalb and other state attorneys general filed lawsuits in courts across the United States, The acquisition comes at a legally fraught time for the company, which is owned by China’s ByteDance.
September, TikTok’s lawyers argue A new law is unconstitutional because it violates TikTok users’ First Amendment rights, a federal appeals court has ruled. .
The bill passed the House and Senate in April after members of Congress and others argued the app posed a national security risk to the United States.
Specifically, they claim that the type of data it collects could be weaponized by U.S. adversaries in Beijing if a war breaks out between the two countries.
The lawsuit by state attorneys general is the latest in a series of civil lawsuits filed against social media companies, alleging that their popular apps cause harm to children and other users.
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