Newly released documents from Utah’s lawsuit against TikTok include startling allegations that the company knew its app is habit forming in a way that can harm teens mental health. They also allege TikTok sends notifications to teens in the middle of the night, interfering with their sleep.
The documents are part of Utah’s lawsuit against TikTok and were released Thursday. The court documents are still partially redacted.
Giving a sense of the app’s popularity among children, the lawsuit claims that “almost a quarter of all children using the TikTok app are spending the equivalent of half of their school day on the app every day.”
The Utah Attorney General’s Office originally filed the suit in the 3rd Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County on Oct. 10, 2023 , on behalf of the state’s Division of Consumer Protection.
“At that time, the state was not allowed to detail its allegations about TikTok’s strategies to addict kids with carefully crafted designs that mimic a slot machine, while enjoying a market penetration of under age 18 users of 95%,” a release from the attorney general’s office stated.