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.

[…]

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.

[…]

Regulators have launched similar cases against Facebook and Instagram for their impact on young people’s mental health.

[…]

The Federal Trade Commission, a government watchdog, accused TikTok in August of violating child privacy laws.

  • @yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

    Young people see news influencers on social media which are even less trustworthy than traditional news outlets.

    It’s the “I did my own research” of news.

    • @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      TBH the news that I get from social media is usually first-hand accounts and footage. It’s far superior to the extremely filtered and propagandized disinformation coming from capitalist media outlets.

      I think any child could recognize the difference and that’s why media outlets want to ban the competition. This won’t make kids happier.