States Sue TikTok Over ‘Addictive’ Design Features. What That Means for Schools

The newest legal battle against social media platforms—this time against TikTok—could have a trickle-down effect for schools where some of the alleged harms of social media often play out.

But first, the 13 states and the District of Columbia that have filed a series of lawsuits will have to prove their claims that TikTok is intentionally designed to be addictive to kids. And those addictive features, the lawsuits say, are harming kids’ mental health.

The lawsuits against TikTok are another effort targeting social media algorithms, which prioritize the posts individual users see on their social feeds based on how likely people are to engage with the content. California passed a law last month requiring parental consent for algorithmic feeds on minors’ social media accounts. Forty-one states sued Meta a year ago over similar issues. And algorithms are featured in several lawsuits filed by school districts across the country against the major social media companies.

It’s a full-court press that legal observers have likened to the cascade of lawsuits, oftentimes led by school districts, against e-cigarette manufacturers four years ago.

“For young people in particular, their brains are still developing,” said Danny Weiss, the chief advocacy officer for Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that focuses on the impact of technology on youth. “It’s very difficult if not impossible for them to resist the temptations with these powerful algorithms that are based on millions and millions of bits of information about the user to then drive that user to stay engaged […] and drive them to places that kids themselves have not chosen to go that can be harmful.”

The more time someone spends on a platform, the more money the social media company makes, he said.

How schools are impacted by kids’ social media use

Kids’ deteriorating mental health hurts their ability to learn and requires districts to spend more money on mental health supports, according to a lawsuit filed by the Seattle school district, the first district to sue the major social media companies. Social media has indirectly led to school property being damaged, either as a result of kids acting out of mental health issues, as some district-led lawsuits claim, or trends on social media that challenge students to vandalize bathrooms or steal school property.

This latest round of lawsuits against TikTok are the culmination of an investigation by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general. Other design elements in TikTok targeted by the lawsuits include push notifications that buzz and entice users onto the app, the infinite-scroll feature which serves up a never-ending feed of curated content to keep users engaged, and face filters that create unrealistic and unhealthy expectations for young users.

But TikTok says those claims are inaccurate and misleading, and in a statement, pointed to several actions the company has taken to protect teens using its product as proof of its commitment to its youngest users’ health and safety.

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen-time limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” said Alex Haurek, a spokesperson for TikTok, in an email. “We’ve endeavored to work with the attorneys general for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges.”

Children under 13 are not allowed to create accounts on TikTok, although younger children often bypass these controls.

TikTok is facing an additional legal challenge distinct from other major social media companies. The app could be banned in the U.S. if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell TikTok before then under a new federal law. That law is being challenged in court.

While Weiss thinks this lawsuit is a positive development, it will be a long time before schools see the effects of the lawsuit—should the plaintiffs even succeed. But, he said, schools now have an opportunity to discuss with students how social media platforms work and how to use them in a healthy manner.

“These lawsuits are giving teachers an opportunity to say, ‘Let’s talk about TikTok. Let’s talk about Instagram,’” he said. “Engage young people in a conversation about what’s going on, and then say, ‘Did you notice in these lawsuits that they talk about the beauty filter, or they talk about the algorithm? Do you understand what that is? And what are some things you can do to try to move away from the parts that are less healthy for you, and just try to emphasize the parts that are healthier for you.’ It’s a really great teaching moment.”