Arkansas accuses Meta and TikTok of harming mental health

The state of Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, the parent company of ByteDance, and Meta Corporation, the parent company of Facebook. Motivations for lawsuits range from issues of addiction, inappropriate content, and user privacy.

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In total, three lawsuits have been filed alleging the companies violated the state’s Deceptive Business Practices Act, which could lead to potential fines.

What is the lawsuit against TikTok and other networks?

The lawsuit against Meta focuses on the company’s impact on the mental health of its young users. Namely, the implementation of like buttons, endless feeds, and other addictive features are allegedly intended to “manipulate users’ brains, triggering a dopamine release.”

The second lawsuit alleges that the TikTok app deceives users by identifying itself as suitable for teens in online stores. In this way, TikTok is accused of misleading users and showing teens inappropriate content while using it.

“TikTok poses known risks to young teens that TikTok’s parent company itself considers unsuitable for Chinese users of the same age,” the complaint reads.

Finally, the lawsuit against ByteDance accuses the parent company of making misleading statements by saying that it did not hand over user data to the Chinese authorities.

In other words, the accused party said that misleading statements were made about the app’s privacy and that user data is not necessarily protected.

How do you deal with social media addiction?

If you are addicted to social media, certain behaviors may be helpful:

Set a time limitPreferably, you have a specific time to engage with social networks. Avoid using it at dawn. Social media consumption, in addition to other activities, can be harmful to your sleep, for example.
Turn off notifications: When we get notifications about something, just watching it can make us stay longer on certain pages or apps.
Find other activitiesAlways choose activities that are healthy and can be beneficial in the short and long term. In the same way, you can also follow pages on social networks that help you engage in other activities. The question is about overuse, which does not preclude better use of social networks.
Seek professional helpIf the addiction is disturbing your life in different ways, it is recommended that you seek out a professional who can help you develop behaviors that will help you deal with your social networking addiction.