MOSCOW: Fourteen US attorneys general have filed lawsuits against the TikTok video-sharing app, accusing it of harming children’s mental health, reported Sputnik.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against TikTok for the alleged violation of the state’s privacy laws for minors.
Fourteen attorneys general, led by officials from New York and California, filed the lawsuits individually on Tuesday, accusing TikTok of harming the mental health of young users and collecting their data without consent.
The attorneys general believe that TikTok violated state laws by falsely claiming that its services are safe for young people. The authors of the lawsuits also pointed to the “addictive” autoplay of videos and the “dangerous TikTok ‘challenges,‘” NBC News reported.
An unnamed TikTok spokesperson dismissed the allegations as unfounded and strongly disagreed with the claims.
The lawsuits were filed by the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance and launched in 2018, remains under scrutiny by US authorities, who fear the app may be sharing user data with the Chinese government or spreading propaganda. TikTok has consistently denied the concerns.
