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More than a dozen states in the US have sued TikTok, accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 month ago by tardigrada to c/technology

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A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app and that it has intentionally misled the public about the safety of prolonged use.

[...]

New York Attorney General Letitia James said young people across the country had died or been injured doing TikTok "challenges" and many others were feeling "more sad, anxious and depressed because of TikTok's addictive features".

She cited a 15-year-old boy, who died in Manhattan while “subway surfing” - riding on top of a moving subway car. His mother later found TikTok videos of such activity on his phone, she said.

[...]

Regulators have launched similar cases against Facebook and Instagram for their impact on young people's mental health.

[...]

The Federal Trade Commission, a government watchdog, accused TikTok in August of violating child privacy laws.

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[–] rainynight65@feddit.org 29 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Teenagers today were born in the aftermath of a global financial crisis, are seeing war after war after war, grow up with the knowledge that the world is going to shit and the older generations aren't willing to do anything about it. They see everyone pull up the ladder behind them, the 'fuck you I got mine' mentality is everywhere.

And TikTok is to blame for their mental health?

Specific to subway surfing: I'm 46, and I know this stuff happened when I was a kid. There were no social media back then to show you, but somehow kids still these got stupid ideas. It seems like social media is just the new video games are the new comic books are the new heavy metal is the new whatever scapegoat society wants to use to blame for its own deliberate shortcomings in bringing up the next generation.

[–] ranandtoldthat 6 points 1 month ago

The effect (purpose?) of moral panics is to maintain the status quo, scapegoating age old problems as new because there's a new aspect.

Anyone focusing on social media or phones as the main problem kids and teens are facing today is part of the problem, whether or not it's intentional.

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