Florida lawsuit accuses TikTok of violating state’s child social media ban

Florida became the latest state to sue TikTok on Monday after the attorney general accused the company of violating a state law that limits social media access for teenagers.

In a press conference, Republican James Uthmeier said TikTok exposed children to harmful sexual content and addictive features, such as unlimited scrolling and push notifications. “It’s designed to keep kids stuck on those screens for hours,” Uthemeier said at a press conference. “Our evidence suggests that so many kids are on TikTok for upwards of six, seven, eight or more hours a day. We are going to get our kids their lives back.”

Florida enacted a state law last year that bans children under 14 from using social media platforms and requires 15 and 16-year-olds to have their parents permission before creating accounts. Monday’s civil lawsuit, which was filed in St Lucie county, argues that TikTok violated this law, and “is actively deceiving Florida parents about the risks of allowing their teens to access this platform”.

Florida officials accuse the social media platform of falsely telling parents that mature content on its platform, including drugs, nudity, alcohol and profanity is “infrequent”. Instead of an over 13 age rating, the lawsuit says an honest assessment of the mature content on its platform warranted an over 16 or over 18 age rating. “These ratings would cause parental restrictions on phones to prevent many kids from downloading the app.”

TikTok has said it is evaluating the state’s complaint and continuing to update their platform in Florida in response to state law. “TikTok is built with safety at its core,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

TikTok’s legal troubles go beyond Florida. The social media company has already been sued by roughly two dozen state attorneys general over claims about the addictive nature of its feed, and its harmful mental health effects on children.