US authorities accuse the social network, a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance, of encouraging children to spend more time there.
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Posted on 03/03/2022 08:58 Updated on 03/03/2022 10:32
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Younger people love it, but it can hurt them. Accused of harming the mental health of children, the Chinese social network TikTok is under investigation for its algorithms and methods of marketing to young people. The procedure has been launched by eight US states, including California and Florida, the coalition announced on Wednesday (March 2nd).
“Our children are growing up in the age of social media, and many feel the need to test themselves against these filtered versions of reality that they see on their screens,” Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said in a statement. “We know that this has a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of children. But we do not know what the companies themselves have known and since when,” he added.
Authorities accuse TikTok, a subsidiary of China’s ByteDance group, of encouraging children to spend more time there. In the United States, TikTok is available for children under the age of 13, as long as they use a version dedicated to them.
This investigation follows that carried out by a number of chief prosecutors of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which they accuse of promoting Instagram among the youngest and of ignoring internal reports of the suffering the app may cause. photos, according to documents released in the fall by whistleblower Francis Haugen.
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