The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office has joined a host of other states in launching an investigation into the popular social media app TikTok.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced on Wednesday that he is co-leading a nationwide investigation into TikTok for providing and promoting its social media platform to children and young adults despite its association with physical and mental health harms.
Attorneys general nationwide are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws.
“Whether online or on the streets, we are committed to protecting Kentucky children,” Cameron said. “This investigation is the latest action we’ve taken to promote online safety for Kentucky’s kids, and it is a necessary step to examine TikTok’s practices and better understand the potential harms and risks to children who use the platform.”
According to the release, the investigation will look into the harms caused by the use of TikTok among young users and what TikTok knew about those harms. The investigation focuses on the techniques used by TikTok to boost young-user engagement, including increasing the duration of time spent on the platform and the frequency of engagement with the platform.
Cameron has expressed previous concerns about the negative effects of social media platforms on Kentucky’s youngest residents. In May 2021, he joined a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general in urging Facebook to abandon its plans to launch a version of Instagram targeted to children under 13.
Later in the year, he also joined attorneys general from across the country in an investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for providing and promoting its Instagram platform to kids.
The bipartisan coalition spearheading the investigation includes attorneys general from California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
