Seven French families recently filed a lawsuit against the social media company TikTok, alleging that two 15-year-olds committed suicide because of harmful content on the platform.
The lawsuit claims TikTok’s algorithm promoted suicide, self-harm and bad eating habits among seven teenagers, two of whom committed suicide, lawyer Laré Boutrin Marman told broadcaster France Info.
The families of the victims are pursuing a joint legal action in the Criminal Court, which lawyer Boutron says is the first group case of its kind in Europe.
The lawyer said that the parents want the court to clarify what is the legal responsibility of Tik Tok and impose guidelines.
The parents further argued that TikTok is a commercial company that offers products to underage users. So the company has to be responsible for the shortcomings of its products.
Like other social media platforms, TikTok is also facing investigations regarding content moderation on its app.
Like Facebook and Instagram (Meta), TikTok is also facing hundreds of lawsuits. All these companies are accused of sending harmful content to millions of children from their platforms, causing them to become addicted and harming their mental health.
