Miami.- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced this Monday a lawsuit against the TikTok platform in the United States for violating a state law that prohibits children aged 14 or younger from having accounts and for considering its content “addictive”.
Uthmeier denounced that “TikTok’s success relies on its ability to get children and teenagers addicted to the platform” in a press conference regarding the lawsuit, filed in Florida’s Nineteenth Judicial Circuit.
“TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law. We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profits over the safety of children. TikTok should expect to be held accountable,” he stated.
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Florida’s accusation against TikTok
The lawsuit accuses TikTok of violating HB-3 law, passed with bipartisan support in 2024 to block social media access for children 14 years old or younger, and requiring teenagers aged 15 and 16 to access it only with authorization from parents or legal guardians.
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The appeal also alleges that TikTok is violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by misleading parents about the safety and suitability of the content their children will access.
The Florida government argues that TikTok advertises itself in the app store as appropriate for children aged 13 and older, but maintains that it is “blatantly false” that adult content, including that involving sex, drugs, or suicide, is “mild” and “infrequent,” as the company claims.
The event transcends amidst a wave of lawsuits in the United States against tech companies over the alleged addictive power of social media, particularly for minors.
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Precedents
A historic trial in Los Angeles found in March that Meta and Google are addictive to teenagers, ruling in favor of a woman who claims to have become addicted to Instagram and YouTube since she started using them at under 10 years old.
Florida also filed a lawsuit on June 1st against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, accusing its artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT of instigating and contributing to the planning of shootings, creating addiction in minors, and weakening the critical thinking of its users.
