TikTok Addiction & Injury Lawsuits – Justice for Children and Families

TikTok took the world by storm with its short, addictive videos. But behind the dancing and memes lies a darker side: For many children and teens, TikTok isn’t just fun; it’s harmful and can contribute to the deterioration of a young person’s mental health. If your child suffered a serious mental health crisis (like anxiety, depression, or self-harm) or physical injury because of TikTok, you have the right to seek accountability. Pritzker Hageman is helping families nationwide pursue lawsuits against TikTok’s parent company (ByteDance) for designing an app that manipulates young minds and promotes dangerous content. As one U.S. Senator put it, TikTok’s algorithms “prey on children”, and we believe those who created this product must answer for the consequences.

We seek justice for the harms done to children and families by addictive and harmful social media apps.

TikTok’s Unique Dangers

TikTok’s defining feature is its For You Page (FYP): An endless algorithm-driven feed tailored to each user. The algorithm is incredibly good at learning what keeps someone watching. For kids, this can be disastrous because, in order to keep their attention, it often serves up ever more extreme content:

A teen looking at fitness videos might get pushed into extreme diet or “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia) content in no time.
A boy who likes prank videos might soon see dangerous stunt challenges trending.
A vulnerable teen who watches a sad video could be shown more content increasingly about hopelessness or self-harm, reinforcing depressive feelings.

Unlike older platforms where you mainly see content from people you follow, TikTok’s FYP is full of strangers – meaning kids are regularly exposed to content beyond any parent’s knowledge or control. And TikTok’s design is hyper-addictive: just swipe for a new video, an endless stream, often with instant dopamine hits from sometimes humorous and sometimes shocking clips.

Common Types of Harm Involving TikTok:

Addiction & Mental Health Decline: TikTok’s immersive feed can lead kids to spend hours glued to their screens. It’s easy to lose track of time (“I’ll just watch a few more…”). Many teens stay up until 3-4 AM on TikTok, leading to sleep deprivation which in turn worsens anxiety and depression. Research links high social media use with increased depression and TikTok’s usage stats are staggering. If your child became moody, irritable, or withdrawn and you found they were constantly on TikTok, the app may well be a factor. TikTok also encourages constant engagement by showing view counts and the possibility of virality; some teens get anxious or obsessed about creating content, facing harassment in comments, etc.
Viral “Challenge” Injuries: Sadly, TikTok is infamous for viral challenges – some are benign dances, but others are dangerous or deadly. Examples:
- The “Blackout Challenge”: encourages kids to choke themselves until they pass out. This challenge has been linked to the deaths of multiple children 12 and under, as they attempted it after seeing videos. Lawsuits have been filed by parents of children who died from this challenge, arguing TikTok’s algorithm actually showed this to kids intentionally (because such shocking content gets views).
- The “Benadryl Challenge”: teens took excessive doses of allergy medication to hallucinate, causing hospitalizations and at least one death.
- The “Milk Crate Challenge”: people stack milk crates into a makeshift pyramid and try to climb – leading to many falls and injuries (broken bones, head injuries).
- The “Orbeez/Splatter Gun Challenge”: encouraging shooting other kids and even strangers with water beads or gel guns, which have led to eye injuries and more.
- The “Subway Surfing”: trending videos of youths riding on top of moving subway cars – a practice that caused multiple deaths and injuries in cities like New York.

If your child was hurt (or worse) copying something they saw on TikTok, our hearts go out to you. Our attorneys have seen what happens when big companies fail to prioritize the safety of children too many times. TikTok absolutely has the ability and technology to police these known dangerous trends. Yet, even if they do finally act, often it’s too late. We want to change that incentive structure by making them legally accountable.

Sexual Exploitation/Grooming: TikTok’s user base skews very young (many pre-teens use it despite an almost comically unenforced age 13+ policy). There have been instances of predators using TikTok to contact or groom minors through duets or DMs. Also, TikTok’s algorithm has been criticized for potentially serving sexualized content to minors, or even promoting things like the “Porn trend” (where teens were encouraged to look up certain explicit phrases). If a child was exploited or traumatized via TikTok, this can be part of a lawsuit (though often those claims focus on content, which are trickier legally, we examine if any platform negligence enabled it).
Fentanyl/Drug Harm: While Snapchat has been more notorious for facilitating drug dealing, TikTok also has had issues with illicit drug content (people selling or promoting pills, etc.). A report in Nevada noted TikTok’s algorithms can push content about drugs or alcohol to minors. If your child got caught up in substance abuse linked to things they saw or people they met on TikTok, that’s something we would look into as well.

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Legal Landscape – TikTok:

TikTok (ByteDance) is a foreign-based company (Chinese owned), but it’s facing heavy legal fire in the U.S.:

Multiple personal injury lawsuits from families have been filed, some consolidated into a large federal case, called an MDL.
State governments are after TikTok too: In addition to general mental health suits, TikTok is being sued for deceptive practices regarding its algorithm’s effects on youth. States like Indiana, California, and Minnesota have sued TikTok for violating consumer protection laws by targeting kids with harmful content.

In late 2022, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory warning specifically about social media harms to youth, citing the need for protective measures. TikTok was singled out in many discussions.

Whistleblower reports and leaked documents have shown TikTok’s algorithm optimization is ruthlessly focused on time spent. It tracks what keeps kids watching and feeds them more, regardless of whether it’s making them miserable or unsafe. We can bring on-board experts to testify to how quickly the app can hook vulnerable youth.

Our Approach to TikTok Cases:

When we represent a family in a TikTok-related lawsuit, we:

Gather the data: TikTok account info (we can demand logs that show how the algorithm worked in that case, though that often requires court orders since TikTok won’t volunteer it).
Work with technical experts: to demonstrate the For You feed experience. For example, we might show in court a demo of how a fresh account that watches one dieting video can, within an hour, be flooded with dangerous content – establishing the foreseeable harm.
Emphasize TikTok’s knowledge of youth on the app: TikTok knows a huge share of its users are under 18 (even under 13). Yet, its default design doesn’t limit what minors see or how long they use it. Only recently they added some features like prompts to take a break after long use, but that’s after immense pressure and still easy to bypass. We underscore this negligence.
Calculate damages comprehensively: For challenge cases, damages include not just medical bills but also the mental anguish and trauma (pain & suffering) of the incident. For addiction/mental health cases, we can look at costs of therapy, any schooling disruption, and long-term impacts (some teens lose scholarships, suffer potentially lifelong anxiety, etc. due to what happened).
Pursue punitive damages if warranted: If evidence shows TikTok executives or engineers identified a specific harm and chose to ignore it we want to uncover those communications in our investigation.

Message to Parents:

We understand that suing a social media company might feel daunting. TikTok is popular. Sometimes even within the same family one child is hurt while another still loves the app. However, holding TikTok legally responsible is about forcing a powerful company to prioritize safety. Legal cases are a major reason other industries have improved safety (like forcing the auto industry to add seatbelts, or getting asbestoses out of schools). We seek a similar reckoning with TikTok and its peers. Your case can also help protect future children from the next deadly trend or silent spiral into depression.

If Your Child Was Harmed by TikTok:

Please reach out to us. We offer a 100% free and confidential consultation to discuss what happened. We know some details can be painful to recount and we will approach your story with sensitivity. Whether your child is struggling with a mental health issue from TikTok or an injury from a TikTok challenge, we want to help you find answers and justice.

There is no fee ever unless we win for you, so it costs nothing to have us evaluate your case. Importantly, acting sooner is better – evidence like videos or account data can be lost over time. TikTok content can be deleted or accounts banned; we can help preserve crucial evidence through legal means.

Our firm has the experience of going up against giant corporations and the dedication to see this through. We are not afraid of TikTok’s parent company (even if it’s overseas, they operate in the U.S. and can be sued here – TikTok litigation is already well underway in U.S. courts).

Contact Pritzker Hageman today if TikTok harmed your child. Let us handle the battle against the algorithm, so you can focus on helping your child heal. Together, we will send a clear message: our children’s lives and well-being are not for sale to Big Tech, and those who violate that principle will pay the price.

1-888-377-8900 (Toll-Free) | attorneys@pritzerlaw.com

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