Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media platform of contributing to the mental health deterioration of their children, leading to two suicides, Bloomberg reports.
The families, who are members of the association Algos Victima, filed the lawsuit at a court in Créteil, southeast of Paris. Their attorney, Laure Boutron-Marmion, stated that they seek to hold TikTok accountable for the devastating consequences of the app’s design and content moderation practices.
“TikTok’s responsibility must be acknowledged by French judges,” Boutron-Marmion said.
She specifically pointed to the app’s “deliberately addictive design” and “faulty algorithm” which, she claims, fail to adequately regulate and moderate content promoting self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders.
This lawsuit adds to a growing list of legal actions against TikTok in the United States, where concerns about the app’s impact on children’s mental health are increasingly prominent. Several studies have linked the app to addiction and exposure to potentially harmful content, particularly among vulnerable users.
The platform, owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance Ltd., also faces the potential of being banned in the United States due to concerns over Chinese ownership.
