Another social media giant is duking it out in court. It’s TikTok’s turn in the hot seat, with multiple state’s attorneys general alleging that TikTok was dishonest about being safe for young’uns. The claim that TikTok is addictive, and dangerous for teens and children carries more weight than it did previously now that documents have been revealed that show that the social media company was well aware of the harmful effects inflicted by the app.
So… who bears the responsibility of protection here? The company that is trying to make a buck, or the parents that are charged with protecting their children both online and off? 14 attorneys general say that company executives bear at least some responsibility, given that they knew about the platform’s addictive nature for teens specifically, and chose to move ahead with marketing the platform to a younger demographic.
The lawsuit alleges that despite knowing that the app was highly addictive and damaging to the mental health of its intended audience, that very little was done to mitigate the risk. TikTok placed some safety measures in place, but those have by and large been found to be ineffective. Internal research was done to study ways to help prevent negative side-effects in teens, but the suggested tools presented weren’t exactly effective at reducing teen usage of the app. Have you tried to reduce your teen’s screen time recently? In a post-Covid world, their socialization happens both online and off, and if you cut off access to their peers— even if the place those peers are hanging out digitally isn’t ideal— they’re going to find a way to find their friends in their favorite virtual living room, screen time limit or no.
TikTok’s actions have displayed a clear priority of engagement and profit over user safety, and the harm reduction features they introduced were pretty obviously for optics rather than actual safety.
So how do we hold large companies accountable for the harm they knowingly cause, especially when the group that is most hurt is one of the most vulnerable sects of our population? Being a teenager is HARD. Even without the pressures of social media, so many things are changing so rapidly, and your brain is marinating in a bunch of new hormones that it isn’t used to having to deal with. Throw in an app that all of your friends are on that is highly addictive, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Our world is online now, that’s toothpaste that just can’t go back in the tube. When one moves through the physical world, there are measures in place that keep us all safe. Think traffic signals, hours of operation for many businesses, rules of participation that have to be followed, etc. In light of our (relatively) new shared virtual reality, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to ask that the architects of our virtual world take seriously the creation of systems and measures to keep citizens safe when they’re engaging with the online world.
TikTok isn’t the only social media company facing legal challenges in light of user safety problems; Meta and Snapchat have also been taken to task in court for similar issues. These companies frequently use the idea of “user freedom” to try and mask the addictive features that keep users scrolling along, and feeding the algorithm that allows them to make billions of dollars in profit. Regulation of addictive features isn’t a restriction of freedom; it’s a desperately needed protective measure for social networks where teens and children are allowed to participate as members of the virtual community.
Do parents bear some of the burden of responsibility? Absolutely. But right now, parents are operating without a safety net as their teenaged children are experience higher levels of anxiety, depression, and lower self-esteem than ever before due to the rise of social media, and the lack of protection within virtual communities.
We can’t predict the outcome of this most recent lawsuit, but we can offer the parents reading this a suggestion; once your child is online, that’s it. There is no undoing that choice. Even with parental supervision, being present on social media is hazardous to developing brains. We can’t speak for everyone, but the best advice we’ve found when it comes to teens and social media is this; unless you’re ready for your child to be a grown up? Reconsider allowing them full access to social media. TikTok included.
