Seven French families have filed a lawsuit against social media giant TikTok on Monday, accusing the platform of exposing their teenage children to harmful content that caused two of them to commit suicide at the age of 15, French media reported.
The families’ lawsuit claims that TikTok’s algorithm showed the seven teens videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The lawyer for the affected families said:
“The parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognised in court. This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, in addition, minors. They must, therefore, answer for the product’s shortcomings.”
TikTok has long faced criticism over content control on its app, as have a host of other social networks.
Like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, it faces hundreds of lawsuits in the US accusing them of seducing and addicting millions of children to their platforms, harming their mental health.
Media could not immediately reach the company for comment on the charges.
The company has previously said it takes children’s mental health issues seriously. CEO Shou Zi Chew told US lawmakers this year that the company had invested in measures to protect young people using the app.
Earlier, French Minister of Digital Transition and Telecommunications Jean-Noël Barrot reported that social network X could be banned in the European Union if the platform fails to comply with new EU rules against misinformation. According to him, the social network plays an important role in public debate, but at the same time disinformation is one of the threats to democracy.
