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Precision should be key when it comes to regulation of social media. I'm not inclined to give people gold stars when their proposals fail to address the root causes of harm linked to online platforms.
So I rolled my eyes over Tuesday's news that Utah has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social media platform. The suit alleges that TikTok has deliberately used its technology to pump harmful content to children.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and state Attorney General Sean Reyes announced the lawsuit during a press conference.
According to Reyes:
TikTok’s algorithm intentionally creates an addiction that unconscionably targets our kids. TikTok designs and employs an algorithm and features that spoonfeed kids endless, highly-curated content from which our children struggle to disengage. TikTok designed these features to mimic a cruel slot machine that hooks kids' attention and does not let them go. Even worse, TikTok has trained its computer program to continuously learn how to better manipulate our kids to stay on the app for too long and to return to the app as often as possible.
The problem, for me, is that it seems everything Reyes described here can also be said of virtually every major social media platform. Even the provocative part about TikTok mimicking a “cruel slot machine” speaks to a social media problem — the "infinite scroll" feature — which predates TikTok.
Utah’s lawsuit lists the infinite scroll feature as one of the dangerously harmful tools deployed against children, NBC News reported. The lawsuit also accuses TikTok of things such as failing to remove content dealing with self-harm and eating disorders and failing to root out child predators — accusations that have plagued other social media platforms, as well.
The lawsuit also claims that TikTok has lied about its ties to the Chinese government. Conservatives have pushed claims that TikTok is a tool used by the Chinese government for years now, with many of the claims steeped in anti-Chinese bigotry.
But, for the sake of this argument, let's assume Utah is sincere about the national security component.
If Utah officials think TikTok poses a national security threat because of its ties to foreign governments, it’s bizarre that they don’t paint the Elon Musk-owned platform X with the same brush. The Justice Department alleges the company has previously been infiltrated by foreign agents; Musk has used it with foreign crackdowns on dissent; and Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Musk amid reports that the latter hampered Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.
These days, virtually every social media company relies on the same technologies and practices to reach users by any means necessary. Indeed, this is deeply concerning. But without pursuing other social media platforms, Utah is missing the mark (Zuckerberg, pun intended) gravely with this lawsuit. It’s like they’re in the ballpark — but totally ignoring the game that’s underway.