TikTok’s list of sins has grown in recent years. Social media have in fact been accused of exploiting younger people, leveraging weaknesses to fuel addiction and therefore profits.
Seven French families have sued a lawsuit against TikTok. The platform is accused of showing dangerous content to teenage children, two of them took their own lives at the age of 15 because of the videos that appeared on their feed, the families’ lawyer explained Laure Boutron-Marmion. In fact, the algorithm would have promoted content related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. “Parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognized in court,” Boutron-Marmion explained. “This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, moreover, minors. They must, therefore, be held accountable for the product’s shortcomings.” He then added: “It’s about the first case of this type in Europe“.
There are currently hundreds of lawsuits underway in the United States accusing the app of harming the mental health of minors. “The app provides an endless stream of emotional nudges, which are difficult to recognize and can have a real impact on users in the long term,” he explained Marc Faddoulco-director of Tracking Exposed, a digital rights organization investigating TikTok’s algorithm. “And then there’s the virality problem. “With TikTok in particular, because of its large user base and the way its algorithm works, videos can get very big, very quickly, and not everyone is prepared for this“.
What are the risks for minors
Boutron-Marmion told the Actu-Juridique newspaper that cases like that of Molly Russell, a British student who committed suicide in 2017 after seeing graphic images of self-harm and suicide on Instagram and Pinterest, have increased the awareness towards the risks of social media. “Parents are starting to wake up. Many of them were unaware of the horrors circulating on the platforms. While I have noticed a change of mentalitythe problem remains: addiction persists, even among adults.”
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The list of sins of TikTok (but not only) has grown in recent years, along with the awareness of politicians on the topic. Social media has been accused of exploit the younger onesleveraging weaknesses to fuel addiction and hence the profits. Not only that, as in the case of French families, several platforms have been accused of recommending dangerous content to teenagers, encouraging self-harm and fueling depression. The platforms then always remain one risky terrain for online predators.
TikTok’s response
TikTok’s spokesperson said: “We strongly disagree with these statements, many of which we believe are inaccurate and misleading.” The company added that its community guidelines do not allow showing, promoting or sharing plans for suicide or self-harm. The company has previously said it takes children’s mental health issues seriously and Shou Zi ChewCEO of TikTok, announced this year new measures to protect minors on the app.
