Utah has become the latest state to sue TikTok, alleging the social media company is “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy habits.

Utah became the latest state Tuesday to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits.

TikTok lures children into hours of social media use, misrepresents the app’s safety and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Utah claims in the lawsuit.

“We will not stand by while these companies fail to take adequate, meaningful action to protect our children. We will prevail in holding social media companies accountable by any means necessary,” Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Salt Lake City.

    • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
      71·
      2 years ago

      I dunno, if they get a ruling here with a big enough splash this might actually spread to them too.

      It’ll all depend on if they can establish a solid enough case centered around the addictive nature of the content presentation algorithm, and getting it banned in favor of something like chronological content ordering.

  • Number1SummerJam@lemmy.worldEnglish
    285·
    2 years ago

    I’ve seen it with my own eyes. My SO’s younger sisters are 13 and spend all day glued to tiktok, Youtube shorts etc. I’ve seen the weird challenges encouraging dangerous behavior that the media hypes up show up in their feed (of mostly drama videos doxing strangers on the internet), as well as random videos of dead cats, gore, fentanyl references, and they’ve complained about videos of topless underage girls in 3rd world countries. Even though I’m politically across the aisle from these people, I support this lawsuit.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, it’s definitely addictive. My neighbor has 3 “tweenage” (10-12) daughters and they’re addicted to it, but then again Facebook is and was just as bad back in the mid 2000s. In college my girlfriend couldn’t go more than about 10 minutes (literally) without checking Facebook back in like 2009.

      If you’re around my age (37) and you had access to the internet in the 90s, you definitely saw way more fucked up stuff as a kid (The Stile Project, Rotten.com, etc…). We weren’t emotionally and mentally manipulated like the current younger generation is though, which is definitely fucked up. So, like you, I reluctantly support this as well.

      • Zahille7@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 years ago

        I mean I know plenty of adults that are a tuslly addicted to tiktok as well.

        Granted they aren’t actually doing anything wrong

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      My teenaged niece and nephew are hopelessly addicted to TikTok. My brother and sister-in-law (who are in their 40s/50s) decided to deal with the problem by also becoming hopelessly addicted to TikTok.

    • TenderfootGungi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      2 years ago

      While I am sure this is true, wouldn’t conservatives want this to fall on parents instead of regulations?

    • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.mlEnglish
      11·
      2 years ago

      I think you support people being better parents more than you support a state curtailing the right to free speech.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      12·
      2 years ago

      Lol did you feel this level of pearl-clutching about yourself being exposed to the internet?

      Watching people grapple with the “TV is rotting kids brains” of various generations never stops being equally funny and sad.

  • moneyinphx@lemmy.world
    221·
    2 years ago

    Can TikTok sue the Mormon church for “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy habits?

  • Piecemakers@lemmy.worldEnglish
    216·
    2 years ago

    Utah. Sacred home of the Mormon cult. Is suing, unironically I might add, for the above reasons…

    • toiletobserver@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 years ago

      I think it could be regulated to a positive effect. We regulate all sorts of things that are addictive, see gambling and substances. We also regulate speech on broadcast TV and radio. And, children should be given elevated protections to data harvesting which is what these companies are really doing. Do i expect the government to fuck this up? Absolutely, but don’t let people hide behind first amendment bullshit to avoid the conversation.

  • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
    116·
    2 years ago

    Downvote me all you want, but this is the way. That shit needs banned or some extreme restrictions need to be implemented. IMO it’s literally dumbing down our entire country.

        • Lightor@lemmy.world
          22·
          2 years ago

          And who decides that. And who decides what is classified as “social media”? Once you give the govt this power they will be able to use to pretty liberally.

          • CoderKat@lemm.eeEnglish
            12·
            2 years ago

            All websites where you can post comments and all multiplayer video games are social media to some degree. And would become so to an even more degree if you ever somehow magically banned kids from more mainstream sites (which is a comical pipe dream that might actually make the sites more appealing).

            So basically, they’re proposing the internet be blocked for minors. No, they don’t actually mean that. You see, they want the sites they dislike to be blocked. Like Facebook. But not the things they use like Lemmy. You see, they’re better than you, so the things they like are okay. It’s just the things you like that are dumb and harmful.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
      42·
      2 years ago

      If we could trust all parents to make healthy decisions we wouldn’t need laws forcing kids to go to school or COPPA.

  • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
    1·
    2 years ago

    I mean I have issues with TikTok but parents could also just like not let their kids use it. Parental controls are a thing. I don’t understand why people get so upset at social media companies for trying to get everyone they possibly can to use their apps as much as they can since it’s how they make their money lol. They’re corporations, not charities - don’t expect them to do the right thing.

  • KillAllPoorPeople@lemmy.world
    46·
    2 years ago

    “We’re just looking out for the best interest of our children!”

    A bunch of 35-45 year old Lemmy users bashing something they don’t use but something the kids do. Just like their boomer and silent gen parents.

    You guys fucking suck. I’d say I hope you all have sad, pathetic lives, but I know you all already do.