Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced a lawsuit Tuesday against the social media app TikTok, contending the wildly popular platform misrepresents itself as age-appropriate for children.
“This includes profanity, drinking, drug use, nudity, individuals in sexually suggestive situations,” he said. “Activities that 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds should not be exposed to at such a young age.”
The civil lawsuit was filed in Allegheny County Court and alleges violations of the Pennsylvania Consumer Protection Law, according to the complaint, which is heavily redacted.
“The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s 13+ age rating opens the gates for kids to content that’s beyond their years, and that TikTok has done nothing to limit kids’ time on the platform,” Sunday said.
Sunday said these same teens consuming content at a young age will become addicted to the adult content on TikTok as they grow older.
“To achieve a 13+ age rating in app stores, TikTok claims mature audience content is infrequent on their apps,” he said. “Our investigation reveals that this could not be further from the truth, and it is TikTok’s 13+ age rating that opens the gate for kids.”
When downloading TikTok through the Apple App Store, the TikTok app is rated 13+, and on the Google Play app store, it’s rated “Teen,” which means 12+ for “moderate violence, mild language.”
“That age rating gives parents the illusion of safety — but actually opens the door to putting content literally in the palm of our kids’ hands whenever they want it, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Sunday said. “TikTok intentionally designed its platform to be addictive to young people, maximizing time that kids spend on their platform to grow their bottom line.”
Sunday said the lawsuit seeks to put “effective barriers and safeguards” into place — that consider a child’s safety and well-being when they’re scrolling.
‘They feel trapped’
Sunday said the lawsuit’s purpose is to “protect a tremendous amount of Pennsylvanians and their families.”
“This is not healthy behavior for children, and what’s more, the many students I spoke with during a series of teen talks this past spring know it is not healthy for them, but they feel trapped,” he said, referring to the teenTALK report that came out in May.
Sunday spoke with around 160 students from 35 schools across Pennsylvania in closed-door meetings regarding how students use social media and how technology impacts their mental health, according to the report.
More than two-thirds of children ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, and more than one in five kids that age report using it “almost constantly,” according to Pew Research Center, which Sunday said is the “most concerning” part to him.
“Data for kids under 13 is harder to find, but we know that preteens are also using the platform as well,” he said. “Think about how young some children are when they have their first smartphone. Is it 8? Is it 9? That’s when they can start being exposed to themes and depictions well beyond their years.”
Sunday said the lawsuit also alleges TikTok’s addictiveness harms children through excessive and compulsive use. He referred to features like push notifications and infinite scroll that promote “bed rot,” which is when people spend hours lying in bed scrolling on social media.
“TikTok designers are very good at what they do. They aim to present a product that users feel they cannot be without, and they succeed,” he said. “We’ve all heard of FOMO, right? That addictiveness, ‘fear of missing out,’ that addictiveness harms children.”
The lawsuit wants the TikTok app to be “honestly marketed” in app stores and for the company to fully disclose what the app contains, according to Sunday. This way, the app can receive an “appropriate” age rating, he said.
“There are wonderful, amazing things that come with technology, but it is critical that that technology does not evolve and happen at such a cost to our children,” he said. “Technology and public safety are not mutually exclusive, and they can’t be.”
Parents would be able to “understand exactly what their kids are getting themselves into” and have the tools they need to make informed decisions regarding the platform and their child’s usage, Sunday said, if TikTok had a different age rating on app stores.
“No real progress is quick and easy, but this is a cause that’s worth fighting for,” he said. “The wellness, the mental well-being, the safety of our children, (are) absolute critical component(s) of who we are as a society.
“Is there any more important battle that could possibly exist than putting our children in a place of safety and in a place where they can succeed in life? I can’t think of many.”
Sunday, who is co-chair of the bipartisan Consumer Protection Committee for the National Association of Attorneys General, said “without question” that he expects “a collaborative process moving forward” on the issue.
“Collaborative state work is the only way you can get some of these things done,” he said, but he couldn’t disclose specifics. “This is our first legal action like this that we’re announcing today, but we are looking at a lot of things, and you will hear more from us in the near future.”
