First US trial against TikTok to test claims platform fueled teen mental health crisis

The logo of TikTok is displayed on the company offices in Culver City, California, U.S., April 2, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole

Sept 25 (Reuters) - An Alabama jury will ⁠hear the state's claims that TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance made the platform addictive to young users and ⁠misled consumers about its safety, in the first case against the company to reach trial in the sweeping litigation over ‌social media's impact on teen wellbeing.

The trial, which is scheduled to kick off Monday in Montgomery state court and expected to last two to three weeks, could provide a rare look inside TikTok, which has settled prior cases selected for trial and sought to keep details of its operations from public view.

Alabama’s lawsuit was filed last year by state ​Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican. At least 27 other states and Washington, D.C., have ⁠also sued.

TikTok has said it designed its platform with ⁠teen safety as a key priority and argued that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act shields online platforms from liability over user-generated ⁠content.

Representatives ‌for the Alabama attorney general's office and TikTok, whose US operations were transferred this year to an entity led by US investors and 20% owned by ByteDance, did not respond to requests for comment about the trial.

Alabama claims TikTok's endless stream of videos makes it ⁠the most addictive social media platform and that its algorithm pushes young users ​toward increasingly intense content about violence and self-harm, ‌contributing to a teen mental health crisis and causing the number of emergency room visits for self-harm in the state to "skyrocket."

The ⁠lawsuit accuses TikTok of ​falsely claiming it limits access to sexual and violent content for young users in order to have its app rated safe for teens in app stores run by Google, Apple and Microsoft and of misleading users about the Chinese government's access to US users' data.

The state seeks penalties and other relief.

REDACTED DOCUMENTS, SEALED FILINGS

TikTok’s decision ⁠to settle key cases and efforts to seal or heavily redact court records ​have kept much of the evidence about the privately held company's operations out of public view.

In addition to the states' cases, TikTok faces thousands of lawsuits by individuals, school districts and municipalities over its alleged impact on young users' mental health. Meta Platforms, Snap Inc and Alphabet's YouTube are also defendants ⁠in many of these cases.

TikTok had settled all cases selected for trial against it, including claims by five young people and a Kentucky school district.

Alabama’s lawsuit claims TikTok asks users to self-report their ages, but it also allows users to evade its questions about their age by viewing videos without creating an account, which still allows the company to collect data on their viewing habits. The lack of an effective age restriction makes things ​like “Kids Mode,” which curates content for young users, entirely useless, according to the lawsuit.

The state also ⁠claims the platform traps kids in so-called “filter bubbles,” feeding them increasingly intense content on subjects that capture their attention, including violent or harmful material.

Last month, Meta ​reached a sweeping $17.1 billion settlement with 47 states, Washington, D.C., and US territories. Meta, ‌which did not admit wrongdoing, agreed to make changes to teens' access ​to Instagram and Facebook as part of the deal and conditioned $5 billion of the payout on TikTok, Snap and YouTube's adoption of those terms. TikTok has not said anything publicly about the deal.

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman)

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2025年4月2日，TikTok的标志展示在美国加利福尼亚州卡尔弗城的公司办公楼上。（路透社/丹尼尔·科尔摄）

9 月 25 日（路透社）——阿拉巴马州的一个陪审团将听取该州的指控，即 TikTok 及其中国母公司字节跳动使该平台对年轻用户上瘾，并就其安全性误导消费者。这是针对该公司的首例进入审判阶段的案件，该诉讼涉及社交媒体对青少年福祉的影响。

该案定于周一在蒙哥马利州法院开庭审理，预计将持续两到三周。此案可能会让人们难得一见地了解TikTok的内部运作。TikTok此前曾就一些被选中进行审判的案件达成和解，并试图将其运营细节保密。

阿拉巴马州的诉讼是去年由该州共和党籍总检察长史蒂夫·马歇尔提起的。至少还有27个州和华盛顿特区也提起了诉讼。

TikTok 表示，其平台的设计以“青少年安全”为首要任务，并辩称联邦《通信规范法》第 230 条保护在线平台免于承担用户生成内容的责任。

阿拉巴马州总检察长办公室和TikTok的代表均未回应有关审判的置评请求。TikTok的美国业务于今年转移到一家由美国投资者领导、字节跳动持有20%股份的实体。

阿拉巴马州声称，TikTok 无休止的视频流使其成为最令人上瘾的社交媒体平台，其算法将年轻用户推向越来越激烈的暴力和自残内容，导致青少年心理健康危机，并使该州因自残而前往急诊室就诊的人数“飙升”。

该诉讼指控TikTok虚假声称其限制年轻用户访问色情和暴力内容，以使该应用在谷歌、苹果和微软运营的应用商店中获得青少年安全评级，并误导用户，让他们误以为中国政府可以访问美国用户的数据。

州政府寻求处罚和其他救济。

已编辑文件，密封文件

TikTok 决定就关键案件达成和解，并努力封存或大量删减法庭记录，使得这家私营公司运营的许多证据未能公之于众。

除了各州提起的诉讼外，TikTok还面临着来自个人、学区和市政当局的数千起诉讼，这些诉讼指控TikTok对年轻用户的心理健康造成了影响。Meta Platforms、Snap Inc.和Alphabet旗下的YouTube也是其中许多案件的被告。

TikTok 已就所有选定的审判案件达成和解，其中包括五名年轻人和肯塔基州一个学区的索赔。

阿拉巴马州的诉讼称，TikTok要求用户自行申报年龄，但同时又允许用户通过不注册账号观看视频来规避年龄问题，这使得该公司仍然能够收集用户的观看习惯数据。诉讼指出，由于缺乏有效的年龄限制，诸如“儿童模式”（旨在为年轻用户筛选内容）之类的功能完全失效。

该州还声称，该平台将孩子们困在所谓的“信息茧房”中，向他们推送越来越刺激的内容，这些内容旨在吸引他们的注意力，包括暴力或有害材料。

上个月，Meta与47个州、华盛顿特区和美国属地达成了一项总额高达171亿美元的和解协议。Meta并未承认存在不当行为，但同意根据协议修改青少年访问Instagram和Facebook的权限，并将其中50亿美元的赔偿金与TikTok、Snap和YouTube是否采纳这些条款挂钩。TikTok尚未就此协议发表任何公开评论。

（Diana Novak Jones报道；Alexia Garamfalvi和Cynthia Osterman编辑）

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