French prosecutors probe TikTok’s algorithms for allegedly pushing young users toward suicide content, with platform strongly denying the accusations.
PARIS: French judicial authorities have opened a criminal investigation into TikTok regarding risks that its algorithms could push young people toward suicide.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed the probe follows a parliamentary committee’s request to examine TikTok’s potential responsibility for endangering young users.
The investigation responds to a 2024 lawsuit where seven families accused TikTok of exposing their children to content that encouraged suicide.
A parliamentary committee report highlighted “insufficient moderation of TikTok, its ease of access by minors and its sophisticated algorithm”.
The report noted the algorithm “could push vulnerable individuals toward suicide by quickly trapping them in a loop of dedicated content”.
A TikTok spokesperson strongly refuted the accusations and legal grounds cited in the prosecutor’s press release.
“We will vigorously defend our record,” the spokesperson told Reuters via email.
The company highlighted its “more than 50 preset features and settings designed specifically to support the safety and well-being of teens”.
TikTok also noted that “9 in 10 violative videos” get removed before they’re ever viewed by users.
The Paris police cybercrime brigade will investigate the offence of providing a platform for “propaganda in favour of products, objects, or methods recommended as means of committing suicide”.
This offence carries a potential punishment of three years’ imprisonment.
The parliamentary committee chairman stated in September that TikTok had deliberately endangered user health and lives.
TikTok responded at the time by “categorically” rejecting what it called the Commission’s “misleading presentation”.
The company argued it was being made “a scapegoat for issues that concern the entire sector and society as a whole”.
The prosecutor’s office said the inquiry would also consider findings from a 2023 Senate report highlighting risks to freedom of expression and data collection.
Investigators will review a 2023 Amnesty International report warning that TikTok algorithms are addictive and pose self-harm risks.
The probe will also examine a February 2025 report by French agency Viginum warning about potential election interference through opinion manipulation. – Reuters
