AG Coleman is suing TikTok, saying internal documents show the company knowingly addicted Ky teens

TikTok knew the social media platform was harmful to teens and actively tried to keep them on the platform, Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman claims in a new lawsuit. Using internal documents, the lawsuit alleges that TikTok was aware that its security measures were largely ineffective in reducing teens' screen time or protecting them from harmful content that violated TikTok's own policies.

“TikTok was specifically designed as an addictive machine and is aimed at children who are still developing appropriate self-control. It doesn’t take much for our children to fall headlong into a digital world full of unrealistic beauty standards, bullying and low self-esteem,” Coleman said in a statement. “If we don’t hold TikTok accountable, our children will suffer the very real consequences. Nothing less than their mental, physical and emotional health is at stake.”

Large portions of the 119-page court records in Kentucky are redacted; However, Kentucky Public Radio was able to read the text under the digital editorial board, which appeared to primarily quote and summarize findings from internal TikTok documents and communications.

More than a dozen other attorneys general from across the political spectrum are also suing TikTok in state court, claiming the company misled the public about the platform's security. Attorneys general in New York, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington all filed suit under their state or district's consumer protection laws.

“TikTok intentionally manipulates the release of dopamine in young users' developing brains, causing them to use TikTok in excessive, compulsive and addictive ways that harm them both mentally and physically,” the Kentucky lawsuit says. which was filed Tuesday in Scott County.

Like most social media apps, TikTok tries to retain users for as long as possible. However, the lawsuit alleges that certain design features encourage overuse and harm young users, including a hyper-personalized algorithm that creates “rabbit holes” for content, the ability to endlessly scroll, and the app's use of push notifications.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek told NPR The lawsuits said the allegations were misleading and said they hoped attorneys general had worked with the company on “constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges.”

“We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily implemented safety features such as default screen time limits, family pairing, and default privacy for minors under 16,” Haurek said.

TikTok is already facing other challenges in the U.S., most notably a nationwide ban on the app that will take effect Jan. 19 unless the company bows to an ultimatum and cuts ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance.

TikTok does not allow children under 13 to use the platform. However, the lawsuit claims that the app does not use age verification software. Young TikTok users are also not allowed to send direct messages and their accounts are automatically set to private. The app also uses screen time reminders to let users know how long they've been scrolling.

The same security features are also targeted in the lawsuit, as Coleman's office argues that the company knows that “none of TikTok's security measures provide a meaningful counterbalance to the actual and profound harm caused by the design elements.”

In ineffectively redacted portions of the lawsuit, the state summarizes internal documents in which TikTok employees appeared to acknowledge that their goal with such protections, such as screen time nudges, was intended to, and indeed appeared to have, a limited impact on actual screen time “negligible impact”.

“However, TikTok measured the tool's success not by whether it actually reduced the amount of time teens spend on the platform to repair this harm, but by three independent 'success metrics,' the first of which is public “To increase trust in TikTok's platform through media coverage,” the lawsuit says.

According to court documents, in an experiment with screen time prompts that TikTok publicly describes as a limit, the average time per day teens spent on the platform increased from 108.5 minutes to about 107 minutes.

“Despite this finding and the fact that the reduction in screen time was far less than what TikTok expected and approved as acceptable, the company did not revise the design of the tool to more effectively prevent excessive use of TikTok. “ the Kentucky court filing states.

The lawsuit also claims TikTok was aware of how harmful excessive use could be, particularly to minors, citing things like disrupted sleep patterns and filters that the state says promote certain beauty standards. In redacted portions of the lawsuit, the state cites an internal document that says the effect “perpetuates a narrow standard of beauty” that “could negatively impact the well-being of our community.”

The lawsuit cited another internal document that allegedly showed that at one point the algorithm was prioritizing videos with “unattractive topics” and that TikTok addressed what the company viewed as a problem by changing its algorithm. The wording appears to indicate that the company, having learned that an algorithm was amplifying what it thought were unattractive people, knowingly adjusted the algorithm to exclude those people.

The state also argued that internal documents showed TikTok valued young users, including those in Kentucky. An internal report cited appeared to break down the preferences and demographics of new users categorized as “rural rural.”

“This analysis of users – including their topics of interest and their specific locations in Kentucky – was conducted to increase TikTok’s market share in the Commonwealth,” the lawsuit states.

Attorneys general also argue that TikTok's moderation efforts are ineffective Harmful content is filtered to young users. They also claim that TikTok's live streaming feature is widely abused and that thousands of underage users have hosted live streaming videos in which users can pay to send digital currency in the form of TikTok “gifts.” The lawsuits say the videos incentivized the sexual exploitation of children.

“The existence of these virtual rewards significantly increases the risk that adult predators will target youth users for sexual exploitation,” the Kentucky lawsuit says.

Coleman's office asked the court to find that TikTok violated the law Kentucky Consumer Protection Act and award the state up to $2,000 for each violation, issue a preliminary injunction against TikTok, and order TikTok to forfeit all profits from its “ill-gotten gains.”

Kentucky Public Radio's Joe Sonka contributed to this report.

Reporting on state government and politics is partially supported by the Society for Public Broadcasting.