Families sue TikTok in France over teen suicides they say are linked to harmful content

Delving into her daughter’s telephone aft her death, Mistre discovered videos promoting termination methods, tutorials and comments encouraging users to spell beyond “mere termination attempts.” She said TikTok’s algorithm had repeatedly pushed specified contented to her daughter.

“It was brainwashing,” said Mistre, who lives successful Cassis, adjacent Marseille, successful the southbound of France. “They normalized slump and self-harm, turning it into a twisted consciousness of belonging.” Now Mistre and six different families are suing TikTok France, accusing the level of failing to mean harmful contented and exposing children to life-threatening material.

Out of the 7 families, 2 experienced the nonaccomplishment of a child.

Asked astir the lawsuit, TikTok said its guidelines forbid immoderate promotion of termination and that it employs 40,000 spot and information professionals worldwide — hundreds of which are French-speaking moderators — to region unsafe posts. The institution besides said it refers users who hunt for suicide-related videos to intelligence wellness services.

Before sidesplitting herself, Marie Le Tiec made respective videos to explicate her decision, citing assorted difficulties successful her life, and quoted a opus by the Louisiana-based emo rap radical Suicideboys, who are fashionable connected TikTok.

Her parent besides claims that her girl was repeatedly bullied and harassed astatine schoolhouse and online. In summation to the lawsuit, the 51-year-old parent and her hubby person filed a ailment against 5 of Marie’s classmates and her erstwhile precocious school.

Above all, Mistre blames TikTok, saying that putting the app “in the hands of an empathetic and delicate teen who does not cognize what is existent from what is not is similar a ticking bomb.”

Scientists person not established a wide nexus betwixt societal media and intelligence wellness problems oregon intelligence harm, said Grégoire Borst, a prof of science and cognitive neuroscience astatine Paris-Cité University.

“It’s precise hard to amusement wide origin and effect successful this area,” Borst said, citing a starring peer-reviewed survey that recovered lone 0.4% of the differences successful teenagers’ well-being could beryllium attributed to societal media use.

Additionally, Borst pointed retired that nary existent studies suggest TikTok is immoderate much harmful than rival apps specified arsenic Snapchat, X, Facebook oregon Instagram.

TikTok’s harmful algorithm

While astir teens usage societal media without important harm, the existent risks, Borst said, prevarication with those already facing challenges specified arsenic bullying oregon household instability.

“When teenagers already consciousness atrocious astir themselves and walk clip exposed to distorted images oregon harmful societal comparisons,” it tin worsen their intelligence state, Borst said.

Lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, who represents the 7 families suing TikTok, said their lawsuit is based connected “extensive evidence.” The institution “can nary longer fell down the assertion that it’s not their work due to the fact that they don’t make the content,” Boutron-Marmion said.

The suit alleges that TikTok’s algorithm is designed to trap susceptible users successful cycles of despair for nett and seeks reparations for the families.

“Their strategy is insidious,” Mistre said. “They hook children into depressive contented to support them connected the platform, turning them into lucrative re-engagement products.” Boutron-Marmion noted that TikTok’s Chinese version, Douyin, features overmuch stricter contented controls for young users. It includes a “youth mode” mandatory for users nether 14 that restricts surface clip to 40 minutes a time and offers lone approved content.

“It proves they tin mean contented erstwhile they take to,” Boutron-Marmion said. “The lack of these safeguards present is telling.” A study titled “Children and Screens,” commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron successful April and to which Borst contributed, concluded that definite algorithmic features should beryllium considered addictive and banned from immoderate app successful France. The study besides called for restricting societal media entree for minors nether 15 successful France. Neither measurement has been adopted.

Social media sites nether planetary scrutiny

TikTok, which faced being unopen down successful the US until President Donald Trump suspended a prohibition connected it, has besides travel nether scrutiny globally.

The US has seen akin ineligible efforts by parents. One suit successful Los Angeles County accuses Meta and its platforms Instagram and Facebook, arsenic good arsenic Snapchat and TikTok, of designing defective products that origin superior injuries. The suit lists 3 teens who died by suicide. In different complaint, 2 tribal nations impeach large societal media companies, including YouTube proprietor Alphabet, of contributing to precocious rates of termination among Native youths.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised to parents who had mislaid children portion testifying past twelvemonth successful the US Senate.

In December, Australia enacted a groundbreaking instrumentality banning societal media accounts for children nether 16.

In France, Boutron-Marmion expects TikTok Limited Technologies, the European Union subsidiary for ByteDance — the Chinese institution that owns TikTok — to reply the allegations successful the archetypal 4th of 2025. Authorities volition aboriginal determine whether and erstwhile a proceedings would instrumentality place.

When contacted by The Associated Press, TikTok said it had not been notified astir the French lawsuit, which was filed successful November. It could instrumentality months for the French justness strategy to process the ailment and for authorities successful Ireland — location to TikTok’s European office — to formally notify the company, Boutron-Marmion said.

Instead, a Tiktok spokesperson highlighted institution guidelines that prohibit contented promoting termination oregon self-harm.

Critics reason that TikTok’s claims of robust moderation autumn short.

Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, dismissed TikTok’s assertion that implicit 98.8% of harmful videos had been flagged and removed betwixt April and June.

When asked astir the unsighted spots of their moderation efforts, societal media platforms assertion that users are capable to bypass detection by utilizing ambiguous connection oregon allusions that algorithms conflict to flag, Ahmed said.

The word “algospeak” has been coined to picture techniques specified arsenic utilizing zebra oregon armadillo emojis to speech astir cutting yourself, oregon the Swiss emblem emoji arsenic an allusion to suicide.

Such codification words “aren’t peculiarly sophisticated,” Ahmed said. “The lone crushed TikTok can’t find them erstwhile autarkic researchers, journalists and others tin is due to the fact that they’re not looking hard enough,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed’s enactment conducted a survey successful 2022 simulating the acquisition of a 13-year-old miss connected TikTok.

“Within 2.5 minutes, the accounts were served self-harm content,” Ahmed said. “By 8 minutes, they saw eating upset content. On average, each 39 seconds, the algorithm pushed harmful material.” The algorithm “knows that eating upset and self-harm contented is particularly addictive” for young girls.

For Mistre, the combat is profoundly personal. Sitting successful her daughter’s room, wherever she has kept the decor untouched for the past 3 years, she said parents indispensable cognize astir the dangers of societal media.

Had she known astir the contented being sent to her daughter, she ne'er would person allowed her connected TikTok, she said. Her dependable breaks arsenic she describes Marie arsenic a “sunny, funny” teen who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

“In representation of Marie, I volition combat arsenic agelong arsenic I person the strength,” she said. “Parents request to cognize the truth. We indispensable face these platforms and request accountability.”