The US Attorney General’s Office has launched an investigation into the influence of TikTok on the psyche of young people
A coalition of U.S. attorneys General has begun to study the potential impact of TikTok on the mental and physical health of young people. A group of state prosecutors wants to find out whether TikTok’s promotion methods and its working methods have a negative impact on the health of children, adolescents and young people. TikTok’s algorithms determine which content to show to the viewer, and have already proven effective in attracting users. The company gives an idea of the operation of this mechanism, but does not disclose all the subtleties. The investigation will focus on TikTok’s “methods and techniques” to “increase the engagement of young users, including increasing the time spent on the platform.”
In 2019, TikTok has already paid the FTC $5.7 million to drop charges that its predecessor Musical.ly I have not received permission from the parents of young children to use the application. The settlement agreement required TikTok to prescribe strict content restrictions for children under the age of 13. But there are still very, very few studies that would study the potential impact of TikTok on mental health, despite its huge user base.
The investigation may have an impact not only on TikTok — social networks like Meta and Snapchat took an example from TikTok when developing their versions of the short video format. According to Meta, teenagers spend more than 2 times more time on TikTok than on Instagram, and Android users in the US spend more time watching TikTok than on YouTube videos. But such a adoption of the principles may lead to the fact that other platforms will also be paid close attention if the investigation leads to serious legislative conclusions.
American regulators are paying more and more attention to the safety of children on the Internet. US President Biden touched on this topic in an address to Congress on Tuesday, calling on it to pass laws regulating privacy and advertising to children, and Meta was at the center of congressional hearings last year after reports that the company deliberately ignored the results of a study of the impact of Instagram on the mental health of adolescents.
