Seven French families are suing the social media company TikTok. The families allege the company failed to remove harmful content they said led to two of the families losing their 15-year-old children to suicide.

The families claim in the lawsuit that TikTok’s algorithm exposed their teens to content promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.

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One of the mothers involved in the lawsuit told The Associated Press in a report published on Thursday, Jan. 23, that TikTok’s algorithm led her 15-year-old daughter down a rabbit hole of videos promoting suicide methods, tutorials and comments that encouraged users to end their lives.

TikTok responds to the allegations

In response to the lawsuit, TikTok told The Associated Press it has guidelines banning any promotion of suicide. The company also said it employs 40,000 trust and safety professionals globally to remove posts deemed harmful.

The Chinese-owned company said it refers people who search for suicide-related content to mental health services. Officials also claimed that 98.8% of harmful videos were flagged or removed between April and June of last year.

The CEO of the Center for Digital Hate, Irman Ahmed, dismissed the claim of 98.8% of harmful content being removed between April and May. Ahmed argued code words and ambiguous language could bypass moderation efforts.

The lawyer representing the families also pointed out that TikTok’s Chinese version features stricter content controls for younger users than its American and European counterparts. The lawyer noted Beijing’s version has a “Youth Mode” required for users under the age of 14 years old. The mode limits screen time to 40 minutes a day and shows only approved content.

A study commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron found certain algorithmic features on social media platforms were addictive. The study said those features should be banned from any app in France.

The study also recommended restricted use for users under the age of 15 years old. However, neither policy recommendation has been adopted to date.

Psychology professor Gregoire Borst, who helped conduct the study, said social media platforms must take additional steps to protect young users.

“Like any toy that goes to market, at least the European market, it needs to adhere to certain standards,” Borst said.

Legislative action against TikTok

Other countries have already taken action, like Australia. The country enacted a law in December that bans social media accounts for children under the age of 16 years old.

Along with Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, TikTok faces hundreds of lawsuits in the U.S. Many of the lawsuits accuse the companies of creating addictive features to bring millions of children to their platforms and harming their mental health in the process.

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If someone you know needs mental health help, call or text the national suicide and crisis lifeline by dialing 988. There is also help online at 988lifeline.org, and outside the United States there is help at this website.