Minneapolis, Minn. – Minnesota’s top prosecutor filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok, alleging it is “preying on young people” with “addictive algorithms and “exploitative features.”
Attorney General Keith Ellison says TikTok is breaking state consumer protection laws by “directly profiting from addicting children through an illegal virtual economy.”
Ellison says TikTok is “prioritizing profit over well being at virtually every turn.”
“If you know nothing else about TikTok, you know it’s extremely addicting,” Ellison said in a written statement.
“We also know that spending excessive time on TikTok can be harmful to someone’s mental health. Young people are particularly vulnerable to the harms TikTok can inflict since the regions of their brains that manage things like impulse control, decision-making, and risk-taking are still developing.”
In 2023, Ellison filed a similar lawsuit against Meta over its design of Facebook and Instagram.
In response, TikTok says the lawsuit is making “misleading and inaccurate claims that fail to recognize the robust safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community.”
