The Utah suit is the latest action challenging the popular app in the United States, with Indiana and Arkansas bringing similar suits. — AP
Salt Lake City: Utah has sued Chinese-owned app TikTok, accusing it of harming children by intentionally keeping young users spending unhealthy amounts of time on the short-video sharing platform.
The Utah suit is the latest action challenging the popular app in the United States, with Indiana and Arkansas bringing similar suits.
Last month, a federal judge blocked California from enforcing a law meant to protect children when they use the Internet.
“What these children (and their parents) do not know is that TikTok is lying to them about the safety of its app and exploiting them into checking and watching the app compulsively, no matter the terrible effects it has on their mental health, their physical development, their family, and their social life,” said Utah attorney-general Sean Reyes in a filing.
Utah’s suit filed in state court said the videos leverage “highly powerful algorithms and manipulative design features – many of which mimic features of slot machines” and the result “of these manipulative tactics is that young consumers become hooked”.
ByteDance-owned TikTok, which has more than 150 million US users, said in response to the suit it “has industry-leading safeguards for young people, including an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18 and parental controls for teen accounts”. — Reuters
