Ky Attorney General sues popular social media platform, claims it exploits children
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is suing the social media platform TikTok for “exploiting children for profit.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Scott County, claims that the popular video platform deliberately creates an addictive content system with design features that exploit children’s psychological vulnerabilities.
More than a dozen other attorney generals across the country filed similar complaints yesterday, alleging harm to users’ mental health.
“It doesn’t take much for our kids to fall headfirst into a digital world of unrealistic beauty standards, bullying and low self-esteem,” Coleman said.
“If we don’t hold TikTok accountable, our children will suffer the very real consequences. Nothing less than their mental, physical and emotional health are on the line.”
The lawsuit, which compared the platform to an illegal drug, claims that TikTok intentionally manipulates developing brains, causing excessive use of the platform leading to depression, anxiety, altered development, lack of sleep and more.
Coleman alleges that TikTok’s addictive nature has caused “widespread and significant injury to Kentucky citizens.”
The lawsuit cites research that shows the effects social media platforms can have on users’ health, but TikTok is the only social media company listed as a defendant.
TikTok had nearly 100 million U.S. in 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal, and nearly 1 billion users worldwide.
Congress has tried to ban the platform before, over fear that the Chinese government could use the app to spy on U.S. citizens. That same sentiment was echoed when Coleman announced the Kentucky lawsuit Tuesday.
“You might know that TikTok was created and is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance,” he said. “This is where the problem starts. China is one of our nation’s greatest geo-political adversaries.”