Utah sued TikTok on Tuesday, saying it knowingly uses the technology to keep children engaged in material that is often harmful.
“Harm to children must stop,” Gov. Spencer Cox said as he announced the lawsuit at a news conference.
The consumer protection lawsuit, filed in Salt Lake City state court, says TikTok uses technology aimed at keeping kids on the app despite the known mental health harms associated with time spent on the app. social media.
Utah accused the app, based in Culver City, California, of using algorithms to target children with content that is sometimes violent and distressing through its “recommendation engine” to keep them looking at the app.
The company denies Utah’s claims.
“TikTok has top-notch safeguards for young people, including an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18 and parental controls for teen accounts,” a spokesperson for the app said. “We will continue to work to keep our community safe by addressing industry-wide challenges.”
In March, amid efforts by lawmakers to ban it, the company’s CEO Shou Zi Chew told Congress that TikTok is safe and secure for teenagers. At the time, it reached 150 million active US users — nearly half the population. Its ad revenue last year was nearly $10 billion, according to the Utah suit.
At Tuesday’s press conference, state Attorney General Sean Reyes likened TikTok to “a slot machine that grabs kids’ attention and won’t let them go.”
Among the technology it’s developing is “infinite scrolling,” which delivers new videos targeted to a specific user, the suit alleges. Another tool is “filter bubbles” that feed a user more extreme reels than the types of videos that pique their interest, he claims.
“TikTok directly profited from the children’s addiction to the app and continued to exploit the addictive nature of the app despite knowing the harm the addiction would cause to Utah’s children,” the lawsuit states.
Utah has the highest rate of children per capita in the nation, more than 1 in 4 people, the attorney general’s office said. Nearly 80 percent of the state’s K-12 students spend two or more hours each day on screens, not counting learning engagement at school or at home, the suit said.
In the lawsuit, Utah also alleges that TikTok does not verify the ages of users, does not remove all child sexual abuse material or clips involving self-harm and eating disorders, does not adequately address the negative mental health effects associated with teen use Social media, failing to adequately stamp out child predators, failing to rein in dangerous video challenges involving choking and breaking bones, and lying to the public about its commitment to protecting children and its ties to China , where the app was launched in 2017.
“TikTok lied to parents to create a false sense of security,” Reyes said.
Some of the company’s actions or lack of action amount to violations of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act, the lawsuit alleges.
It is seeking remedial action and damages “well in excess of $300,000,” according to the court filing.
Other states, including Arkansas and Indiana, have also sued TikTok on similar charges. Montana was the first state to ban it. the creators and the app disputed the move.