CT Joins Nationwide Investigation into TikTok: Attorney General

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced this week a nationwide, multistate investigation into TikTok for "providing and promoting its social media platform to children and young adults while use is associated with physical and mental health harms," according to a news release.

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

Tong has long expressed concern about the negative impacts of social media platforms on Connecticut's youngest residents. Tong first wrote to TikTok leaders last October demanding a meeting in Connecticut to give educators and parents the opportunity to discuss the "harmful impact the viral app has had on the mental and physical safety of young people and educators," according to the release.

Plans for that meeting are ongoing, with the expectation that it will take place later this spring, according to Tong.

"I have had multiple conversations with TikTok leaders where I have made it clear that the reckless viral challenges that proliferate on their platform are dangerous and need to stop," Tong said. "I appreciate that they have made efforts to remove some of the harmful content from their site, but whatever they have been doing just is not enough to protect our kids. Our investigation will look at what TikTok knew about the risks to our children, and precisely what they have been doing to keep our kids online. In coordination with attorneys general across the country, we are prepared to use the full weight of our consumer protection authority to hold TikTok and other social media giants accountable."

The investigation will look into the "harms such usage causes to young users and what TikTok knew about those harms," the release states. "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."