Another US state sues TikTok, accusing it of 'addicting' children

"TikTok lures children into spending hours on social media, misrepresents the app's safety, and portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company ByteDance," the state of Utah said in the lawsuit.

Photo: AP

“We will not stand idly by while these companies fail to take meaningful and adequate action to protect our children,” Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit filed in state court in Salt Lake City.

Arkansas and Indiana have filed similar lawsuits as the US Supreme Court prepares to decide whether state efforts to regulate social media platforms like Facebook, X and TikTok violate the Constitution.

The Utah lawsuit raises public health concerns. Research has shown that children who spend more than three hours a day on social media double their risk of developing mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression, the lawsuit alleges.

“TikTok has designed and used algorithmic features to expose children to endless, carefully curated content that is very difficult for children to escape,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said at a press conference.

Reyes said the lawsuit seeks to force TikTok to change its “behavior,” and impose fines and penalties to fundeducational efforts and address harm done to children in Utah.

“TikTok has industry-leading protections for young people, including an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18 and parental controls for teen accounts,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement.

Utah earlier this year became the first state to pass a law restricting children and teens from using social media apps like TikTok, which will take effect next year.

They would impose a digital curfew on people under 18, require minors to get parental consent to sign up for social media apps and force companies to verify the age of all users in Utah.

They also require tech companies to give parents access to their children's accounts and private messages, raising concerns among some child advocates that it could further harm children's mental health.

Child advocates say depriving children of privacy can be detrimental to LGBTQ children whose parents do not accept their sexuality.

Mai Anh ( according to AP, SCMP)

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