LANSING, Mich. — Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a nationwide investigation into the video social media platform TikTok.
The investigation focuses on the platform promoting itself to young children and adults even though social media use has been associated with physical and mental health concerns to young people and examining if the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.
“Recent reports on social media’s impact on the mental and physical health of young people raise serious questions among attorneys general across the nation. Ultimately, we are concerned about protecting our youth,” Nessel said. “I am proud to join my colleagues in this investigation. Given this is an ongoing investigation, I will not be discussing any details beyond this announcement.”
The investigation will look into harms using the app causes to young users and what TikTok knew about those harms, techniques used by TikTok to boost young user engagement including the amount of time spent on the platform and frequency of engagement.
Last May, a bipartisan coalition of 44 Attorneys General urged Facebook to abandon plans for a version of Instagram for children under 13. Attorneys general across the country conducted an investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc. for promoting social media platforms to kids.
Attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont are leading the investigation into both Meta and TikTok.
