Utah sued the Chinese-owned application, TikTok on Tuesday on the grounds that the app harms children in their country. They mentioned that the app intentionally keeps young users spending unhealthy amounts of time on the platform.
TikTok is a social media application that functions through set algorithms that provide a user with content they are most likely to enjoy. Most content is curated according to previously shared and enjoyed videos. Consequently, one is caught in a loop of scrolling from video to video disregarding the time spent in the app.
Previously, the popular app has faced similar suits from Indiana and Arkansas. Utah has joined in challenging the application and the harm it is causing to children accessing the platform.
Last month, a federal judge stopped California from enforcing a law that would have protected children whenever they use the Internet.
Utah’s suit
“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.
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The suit from Utah filed in the state court mentioned that the videos use “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 U.S. 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.”
Utah wants civil penalties and injunctions stopping TikTok from going against state laws protecting consumers from deceptive business practices.
Last year, a group of Republican lawmakers said “Many children are exposed to non-stop offerings of inappropriate content that TikTok’s algorithm force-feeds to them.”
In Kenya, there have been cases of content created by Kenyans on TikTok at night. Most people complained that children are able to access this content and it affects them negatively. The President came forward to address the issues and directed the application to install regulations in the platform that limit the type of content published on it.
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