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Seven families are suing TikTok, claiming the content led to teen suicides

Posted on by Gerres
Seven families are suing TikTok, claiming the content led to teen suicides

Seven families in France have filed a lawsuit against TikTok for harmful content following the suicide of two 15-year-olds.

Over the past few years, TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, has faced several lawsuits. These complaints come from families, businesses and even government entities.

On Monday, November 4 this year. Reuters reported that seven families in France have filed a lawsuit against TikTok. They claim that their teenagers were exposed to harmful content thanks to a short video app, which led to the suicide of two of them at the age of 15.

The lawsuit alleges that the TikTok For You Page algorithm exposed teenagers from all seven families to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.

“The parents want the court to recognize TikTok’s legal liability,” said Laure Boutron-Marmion, a lawyer representing all seven families.

“It is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are also minors. They must therefore be held responsible for product defects.”

An image of the TikTok logoTikTok

Reuters says it’s the first lawsuit of its kind filed in Europe, but it’s far from the first lawsuit TikTok has faced in recent years.

5,000 parents filed a lawsuit against the short video app in January, claiming the site’s content was “poisoning America’s youth.”

Whether users will become addicted to the platform was questioned in an August 2024 lawsuit, as one man sued TikTok, Reddit, YouTube and Meta for being ‘too addictive’ and claimed that all sites were designed to attract users.

In October, 13 states in the U.S. filed a lawsuit against TikTok alleging similar addiction problems, citing things like beauty filters and auto-scrolling videos. parts of the application that harm children.

In September, Dexerto spoke with a wrongful death lawyer who told us about it TikTok Could Suffer ‘Substantial Damage’ as more and more children die after going viral. The latest dangerous trend, the subway surfing challenge, has resulted in several deaths including a 17-year-old.