Minnesota filed a lawsuit against TikTok on Tuesday, joining a growing number of states that claim the social media behemoth exploits youth by using algorithms that are so addicting that they become habitual viewers of its brief videos.
“Free expression is not at issue here. At a press conference, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison stated, “I’m sure they’re going to holler that.”
In reality, it involves deceit, manipulation, and misrepresentation.
It concerns a business that is aware of the hazards and harmful consequences of its product but does not reduce those risks or warn consumers about them.
In the action, which was filed in state court, TikTok is accused of breaking Minnesota’s statutes against consumer fraud and misleading business practices.
It comes after more than a dozen states filed a wave of lawsuits last year, claiming the well-known short-form video app is detrimental to children’s mental health and is designed to keep them addicted.
The complaint from Minnesota raises the number to roughly 24 states, according to Ellison’s office.
In 2022, a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 14 states initiated a countrywide inquiry into TikTok’s impact on the mental health of its teenage users, which led to several of the earlier lawsuits.
Minnesota waited as it conducted its probe, according to Democrat Ellison.
In an interview with Ellison, Sean Padden, a middle school health teacher in the Roseville Area school district, said he has seen a link between rising TikTok usage and an “irrefutable spike in student mental health issues,” such as depression, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, and a reduction in attention spans as users run for the instant satisfaction that the app’s brief videos provide.
Due to worries over the security of the data of its 170 million American users, President Donald Trump is still attempting to negotiate a deal to transfer ownership of the social media platform—which is currently held by China’s ByteDance—to the United States.
Since he began posting videos on TikTok, Trump has amassed over 15 million followers, despite his campaign vows to ban the app.
Ellison stated that TikTok must abide by the law regardless of who owns it in the end.
The claims made by Minnesota were refuted by TikTok.
In a statement, business spokesperson Nathaniel Brown said, “This lawsuit is based on misleading and inaccurate claims that fail to recognize the robust safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community.”
“Over fifty features and settings are included in teen accounts on TikTok to support safe self-expression, learning, and discovery.
Parents may examine or modify over 20 content and privacy settings, such as screen time, content filters, and our time away function, which pauses a teen’s access to our app, through our Family Pairing tool, Brown continued.
Minnesota is requesting a permanent injunction against TikTok’s practices, a statement that the company’s tactics are unfair, misleading, or unconscionable under state law, and up to $25,000 for each time a Minnesota child has used TikTok.
Ellison stated that “it’s a lot,” but he would not provide a figure.
According to his estimation, TikTok is installed on the smartphones of “hundreds of thousands of Minnesota kids.”
Ellison stated, “We are demanding that they clean up their act, but we are not attempting to shut them down.”
“Products like TikTok have their proper applications. However, they must be used appropriately and carefully, just like anything else.
Numerous U.S. states, including Minnesota, have filed lawsuits against Meta Platforms for allegedly incorporating addictive aspects into Facebook and Instagram.
Other states have also filed complaints against the messaging app Snapchat and the game app Roblox, claiming that they harmed children.
