TikTok faces investigation into its impact on young people’s mental health

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A coalition of state attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, and more are investigating TikTok for its potential effect on young people's mental and physical health. According to a press release from Attorney General Healey of Massachusetts, the group of AGs is looking to see if the way TikTok designs, operates, and markets its platform has a negative effect on children, teens, and young adults.

TikTok's algorithm has proven to be remarkably effective at keeping users engaged on the app. It's hard to get a grasp on exact details outside of leaks and educated guesswork, even though the company has offered some insight into how it works. The methods and techniques that TikTok uses to boost young user engagement will be the focus of the investigation by the attorneys general.

In the past, TikTok has struggled to meet the needs of its younger users, and it had to pay millions of dollars to the FTC to resolve accusations that its predecessor, Musical.ly, didn't get proper permission from the parents of young children. The settlement required TikTok to limit how users under 13 can interact with the app. Some researchers sounded the alarm about how few studies looked into the health impacts of TikTok.

Ben Rathe, a spokesman for TikTok, said that the company appreciated that the state attorneys general were focused on the safety of younger users.

The investigation could have an impact on other things. The short-form video platform has been used by other social media companies when designing new features or discussing the future of apps. Meta employees estimated that teens spent more time on TikTok than they did on other sites, and one report estimated that US users spent more time watching Tik than they did on other sites. If the TikTok investigation results in legislation or other actions, the copying could lead to increased scrutiny of other platforms.

The New York Times states that regulators have been paying more attention to children's safety online. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Biden called on Congress to pass laws regulating privacy and advertising towards kids, and Facebook was at the center of congressional hearings last year after reports that it knowingly ignored internal research. State attorneys general are investigating Meta in the same way that the TikTok investigation is.