Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan
coalition of 46 attorneys general, filed an amicus brief on Monday asking a
court to order social media company TikTok, Inc. to fully comply with an
ongoing national investigation into whether the company violated consumer
protection laws.
Raoul and the coalition are seeking to review internal
TikTok communications as part of their investigation to determine whether the
company engaged in deceptive, unfair and unconscionable conduct that harmed the
mental health of TikTok users, particularly children and teens. Despite the
request for these communications falling squarely within the investigative
authority of the attorneys general, the amicus brief asserts that TikTok
repeatedly and knowingly failed to preserve relevant information and failed to
provide internal communications in a useful format.
“The data is clear – heavy social media usage by young users
has negative impacts on their mental health, leading to low self-esteem and
distorted body image,” Raoul said. “Our investigation into how decisions made
at TikTok to increase youth user engagement and the correlated effects of these
decisions on the mental health of young users will be successful only if TikTok
fully cooperates and works with our coalition.”
In their amicus brief, , Raoul and the coalition support the
state of Tennessee’s argument that TikTok has flouted its duty to preserve
internal employee communications on an instant messaging service called Lark.
The brief also argues TikTok has failed to provide requested communications in
a useful format and has continued to allow employees to send auto-deleting
messages over the Lark platform after the start of the coalition’s
investigation.
Raoul and the coalition argue that because the use of social
media platforms like TikTok has a significant role in the ongoing youth mental
health crisis, it is critical that TikTok produce all relevant internal
corporate communications to allow the coalition to understand whether the
company broke any laws.
There is a wealth of peer-reviewed research showing
social media platforms, especially image- and video-based platforms like
TikTok, are playing a substantial role in harming youth mental health. For
example, in February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released
findings demonstrating a startling increase in challenges to youth mental
health, youth experiences of violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among
teenagers, especially teenage girls. This includes a finding that nearly
one-third of teen girls seriously considered suicide in 2021, a
nearly 60% increase from a decade prior. Other peer-reviewed
research shows increased teen social media use is a significant driver of this
crisis.
The investigation is part of Attorney General Raoul’s
ongoing efforts to protect children online and address the negative impacts
social media platforms have on young Illinois residents. In May 2021, as part
of a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general, Raoul urged Facebook to
abandon its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under 13. In
November 2021, Raoul and attorneys general from across the country announced
their investigation into Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for
providing and promoting its social media platform Instagram to kids.
Joining Raoul in filing the amicus brief are the attorneys
general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection.