Seven families sue TikTok claiming content led to teen suicides

Seven families in France have filed a lawsuit against TikTok for harmful content after two 15-year-olds died by suicide.

Over the last few years, TikTok parent company Bytedance has faced a handful of lawsuits. These complaints have come from families, businesses, and even government entities.

On Monday, November 4, Reuters reported that seven families in France have filed a lawsuit against TikTok. They say that the short-form video app exposed their teenagers to harmful content that led to two of them dying by suicide at 15 years old.

The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s For You Page algorithm exposed teenagers in all seven families to videos promoting suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders.

“The parents want TikTok’s legal liability to be recognized in court,” said Laure Boutron-Marmion, the lawyer representing all seven families.

“This is a commercial company offering a product to consumers who are, in addition, minors. They must, therefore, answer for the product’s shortcomings.”

TikTok

Reuters says this is the first lawsuit of its kind to be filed in Europe, but it’s far from the first lawsuit TikTok has faced in recent years.

5,000 parents filed a lawsuit against the short-form video app back in January with claims that content on the site is “poisoning America’s youth.”

Whether or not users become addicted to the platform came into question with an August 2024 lawsuit, as one man sued TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, and Meta for being “too addictive” and claimed that all the sites were developed in a way that keeps users hooked.

Back in October, 13 states in the US filed a lawsuit against TikTok that claimed similar issues with addictive qualities, citing things like beauty filters and auto-scrolling videos as parts of the app that harm children.

Dexerto spoke with a wrongful death lawyer back in September who told us TikTok could face “significant damages” as more and more children die after doing viral trends. The latest dangerous trend, the subway surfing challenge, has led to several deaths including a 17-year-old.