State AG joins nationwide investigation into TikTok

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a nationwide investigation into TikTok for providing and promoting its social media platform to children and young adults even though social media use is associated with physical and mental health harms to young people.

Attorneys general nationwide are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws that put the public at risk.

Nessel has long expressed concern about the negative impacts of social media platforms on Michigan’s youngest residents.  

“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 the harms such usage causes to young users and what TikTok knew about those harms. The investigation focuses, among other things, on the techniques utilized by TikTok to boost young user engagement, including increasing the duration of time spent on the platform and frequency of engagement with the platform.  
In May 2021, a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general urged Facebook to abandon its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under 13.

In November 2021, 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.

Leading the investigation into both Meta and Tik Tok are attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont, who are joined by a broad group of attorneys general nationwide.