TikTok Argues for Dismissal of Nebraska’s Suit Alleging the Social Media Platform Harms Children

‘TikTok tells parents its platform is safe for kids, but our investigation reveals that nothing could be further from the truth,’ state AG Mike Hilgers said.

The TikTok app displayed on a cellphone. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A Nebraska district court judge heard TikTok’s arguments on Oct. 23 regarding its motion to dismiss the state’s complaint, which alleges that the platform’s algorithm and content harm children.

The arguments were “taken under advisement,” a court clerk told The Epoch Times, but no order was issued.

TikTok filed the motion in September, arguing that Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers lacked “personal jurisdiction” over TikTok and that the state failed to address “a cognizable cause of action upon which relief can be granted” against the platform.

Hilgers filed his complaint in May, alleging that TikTok violated consumer protection laws by engaging in “deceptive and unfair trade practices” by designing the platform to be addictive and harmful despite that it is advertised as “family-friendly and safe.”

“TikTok tells parents its platform is safe for kids, but our investigation reveals that nothing could be further from the truth,” Hilgers said.

“Within minutes of signing up, the TikTok algorithm has shown kids inappropriate content, ranging from videos that encourage suicidal ideation and fuel depression, drive body image issues, and encourage eating disorders to those that encourage drug use and sexual content wildly inappropriate for young kids. Parents deserve to be fully and truthfully informed so they can help their kids make positive, healthy choices.”

In October, more than a dozen bipartisan state attorneys general sued the platform on the same allegations, claiming that TikTok is harming children while being deceptive in how it advertises itself.

That brought the number of state attorneys general who have sued TikTok up to 23.

Among them is California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who alleged that “TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits.”

“TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content,” Bonta said in an October statement.

He added that the mental health crisis among children has become “a revenue machine” for the platform.

In August, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued TikTok, alleging that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits websites from collecting data from children younger than 13.

“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said.

The Epoch Times contacted TikTok for comment.

In a previous report, a TikTok spokesperson said the company disagreed with the claims of the attorneys general, calling them misleading.

“We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product,” Michael Hughes, a TikTok spokesperson said in an email.

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16.”

Chase Smith contributed to this report.