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.
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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.
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Regulators have launched similar cases against Facebook and Instagram for their impact on young people’s mental health.
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The Federal Trade Commission, a government watchdog, accused TikTok in August of violating child privacy laws.
Thing is, I am actually Gen X. Early even. And I look at the Boomers and see the generation who kept pulling up the ladder. They got free education and privatised it to make it expensive for us. They got free healthcare and privatised it to make it expensive. They got into the housing market for cheap and started using it as an investment and speculation vehicle, making it harder for each subsequent generation to get into it. They were pretty much the last generation in which it was possible to raise a family on a single income. Climate change is front and center of mind in my generation, we’ve known for over 30 years what’s coming. When you look at those who most fervently oppose climate change action - all old fogeys, and I say that being very conscious of the fact that I am approaching ‘old fogey’ status from the perspective of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
I can only imagine how todays teenagers and young adults feel…