HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is suing the social media platform TikTok, accusing the tech giant of misrepresenting its age rating while promoting inappropriate and addictive content to teenage users, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County, alleges TikTok can advertise an age rating of 13 years or older on app stores by falsely claiming that content pertaining to drugs, alcohol and other mature themes is restricted to older users.
In reality, young people are frequently exposed to that content, Sunday said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
He called on TikTok to accurately market its app by disclosing how often adult-themed material appears and for the creation of effective barriers and safeguards to ensure child safety.
The lawsuit also claims the platform has features that intentionally foster excessive and addictive use, and calls for safeguards to be put in place to prevent obsessive scrolling.
“When TikTok is constantly, infinitely, in our kids’ viewstreams — to where a child is essentially trapped in a scroll — we see TikTok as inhibitors to healthy adolescent development,” Sunday said. “It works directly against the teachings and mentorship of parents, educators and other positive influencers in our children’s lives.”
Thirteen states took legal action against the platform in 2024, saying the app is deliberately designed to keep users scrolling. Sunday said a “more unique” part of Pennsylvania’s lawsuit is that the state alleges TikTok violates consumer protection law through deceptive age ratings and addictive design features.
In a statement, a spokesperson for TikTok said the company would “vigorously defend against these claims.”
“This lawsuit relies on misleading and inaccurate claims and deliberately ignores the concrete safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented,” the spokesperson wrote.
‘The first step’
The legal action follows a series of conversations between Sunday and students across the commonwealth.
In March, the attorney general’s office announced the results of a yearlong listening tour that engaged teens on the topic of social media use. Across three discussions with 160 students, the report found students are using social media daily, with nearly half of 13- to 17-year-olds saying they are online “almost constantly.”
Content warnings and additional safeguards can help mitigate digital media use, Sunday said, and also will help parents better understand what exactly their children are consuming online.
“Our goal, as we are driving this lawsuit, is to argue for and advocate for and demand injunctive relief because what we are (seeking) is not to grab as much money as humanly possible — it’s to ensure there’s an environment that’s as safe as humanly possible for children,” he said.
In 2023, Pennsylvania joined 32 other states in a lawsuit against Meta, accusing Facebook and Instagram of knowingly addicting young users. That case is ongoing.
Sunday said the state is weighing similar actions against social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube, which are also rated for ages 13 and older. These platforms, he said, intentionally keep their age restrictions low to increase the amount of users.
“If social media companies did not take action to protect our children, then I said I would,” Sunday said. “Today is the first step, and there are more to come.”
Natalie Javitt and Ethan Young are summer interns for the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association.
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