French families sue TikTok for allegedly promoting self-harming content

The collective includes the families of seven teenage girls, two of whom died by suicide. In September 2023, the family of 15-year-old Marie filed a criminal complaint against TikTok following her death, accusing the platform of “inciting suicide,” “failing to assist a person in danger,” and “promoting and advertising methods of suicide’. suffering.”

TikTok’s algorithm, Boutron-Marmion said, had trapped Marie in a bubble of toxic content related to bullying she experienced because of her weight.

The case is based on British precedentwhere a coroner concluded that Molly Russell, a 14-year-old who committed suicide after scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram, had been systematically exposed to graphic content depicting self-harm and suicide.

In the United States, current and former presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have also done so pronounced supports the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects companies from prosecution for user-posted content on their platforms.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has not taken a public position, but voted on a bill in 2018 that created an exception to Section 230 to hold platforms accountable for sex trafficking.

With this new civil procedure, Algos Victima wants to examine TikTok’s algorithm and business model in court.