Germana Carillo Seven French families are suing TikTok for “deteriorating the health of their children.” An unprecedented initiative in Europe
Seven French families said they would sue TikTok following the suicides of two of their children. For the first time in Europe, backed by advocacy group Algos Victima, the legal action accused social networks of taking advantage of the vulnerability of young people, leveraging their frailty to create addiction, and therefore profits-in some cases with tragic outcomes.
These families now believe that the algorithm used by TikTok exposed their children to increasingly hazardous content that eventually had a debilitating effect on their mental stability.
The pernicious algorithm: a trap for vulnerable youth
Laure Boutron-Marmion, who represents those families’ counsel, said the “perverse mechanism” in TikTok’s platform amplifies adolescents’ fragility and emotional distress by personalizing content to user preferences. Such a cycle, according to Boutron-Marmion, could provoke or worsen mental health problems already active in young users.
“The app’s ‘engaging’ design mixes with the total absence of moderation of its content to give a really problematic product,” Boutron-Marmion says.
Lawsuits and Continuing Concerns over Content Moderation
Hundreds of similar lawsuits are in the works in the United States, claiming TikTok has harmed the mental health of minors. This March, the EU’s Antitrust Authority imposed a €10 million ($10.7 million) fine on three firms of the Bytedance Ltd group: TikTok Technology Limited based in Ireland, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited in Britain, and TikTok Italy Sr based in Italy over deficiencies in its content moderation. The watchdog said the platform had partly neglected its responsibility to monitor content that might place minors and other vulnerable groups in harm’s way.
