States sue TikTok over children’s mental health

What happened

A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging that the social media app was addictive and harmful to the mental health of children.

Who said what

The lawsuits, each filed in state court, accuse TikTok of “knowingly contributed to a mental health crisis among American teenagers to maximize its advertising revenue,” The New York Times said. The app, which claims 170 million monthly U.S. users, was designed to trap children with addictive features like buzzing push notifications, endless scrolling and beauty filters that promote unhealthy body images, anxiety and depression, the attorneys general argue. The D.C. lawsuit calls TikTok’s algorithm “dopamine-inducing.”