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<\/div>\nIn the moment when her world shattered three years ago, Stephanie Mistre found her 15-year-old daughter, Marie, lifeless in the bedroom where she died by suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from light to darkness in a fraction of a second,\u201d Mistre said, describing the day in September 2021 that marked the start of her fight against TikTok<\/a>, the Chinese-owned video app she blames for pushing her daughter toward despair.<\/p>\n (AP editor\u2019s note \u2014 This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a>. Helplines outside the U.S. can be found at www.iasp.info\/suicidalthoughts<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Delving into her daughter\u2019s phone after her death, Mistre discovered videos promoting suicide methods, tutorials and comments encouraging users to go beyond \u201cmere suicide attempts.\u201d She said TikTok\u2019s<\/a> algorithm had repeatedly pushed such content to her daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was brainwashing,\u201d said Mistre, who lives in Cassis, near Marseille, in the south of France. \u201cThey normalized depression and self-harm, turning it into a twisted sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Mistre and six other families are suing TikTok France, accusing the platform of failing to moderate harmful content and exposing children to life-threatening material. Out of the seven families, two experienced the loss of a child.<\/p>\n Asked about the lawsuit, TikTok said its guidelines forbid any promotion of suicide and that it employs 40,000 trust and safety professionals worldwide \u2014 hundreds of which are French-speaking moderators \u2014 to remove dangerous posts. The company also said it refers users who search for suicide-related videos to mental health services.<\/p>\n Before killing herself, Marie Le Tiec made several videos to explain her decision, citing various difficulties in her life, and quoted a song by the Louisiana-based emo rap group Suicideboys, who are popular on TikTok.<\/p>\n Her mother also claims that her daughter was repeatedly bullied and harassed at school and online. In addition to the lawsuit, the 51-year-old mother and her husband have filed a complaint against five of Marie\u2019s classmates and her previous high school.<\/p>\n Above all, Mistre blames TikTok, saying that putting the app \u201cin the hands of an empathetic and sensitive teenager who does not know what is real from what is not is like a ticking bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientists have not established a clear link between social media<\/a> and mental health problems or psychological harm, said Gr\u00e9goire Borst, a professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Paris-Cit\u00e9 University.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to show clear cause and effect in this area,\u201d Borst said, citing a leading peer-reviewed study that found only 0.4% of the differences in teenagers\u2019 well-being could be attributed to social media use.<\/p>\n Additionally, Borst pointed out that no current studies suggest TikTok is any more harmful than rival apps such as Snapchat, X, Facebook or Instagram.<\/p>\n While most teens use social media without significant harm, the real risks, Borst said, lie with those already facing challenges such as bullying or family instability.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen teenagers already feel bad about themselves and spend time exposed to distorted images or harmful social comparisons,\u201d it can worsen their mental state, Borst said.<\/p>\n Lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, who represents the seven families suing TikTok, said their case is based on \u201cextensive evidence.\u201d The company \u201ccan no longer hide behind the claim that it\u2019s not their responsibility because they don\u2019t create the content,\u201d Boutron-Marmion said.<\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges that TikTok\u2019s algorithm is designed to trap vulnerable users in cycles of despair for profit and seeks reparations for the families.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir strategy is insidious,\u201d Mistre said. \u201cThey hook children into depressive content to keep them on the platform, turning them into lucrative re-engagement products.\u201d<\/p>\n Boutron-Marmion noted that TikTok\u2019s Chinese version, Douyin, features much stricter content controls for young users. It includes a \u201cyouth mode\u201d mandatory for users under 14 that restricts screen time to 40 minutes a day and offers only approved content.<\/p>\n \u201cIt proves they can moderate content when they choose to,\u201d Boutron-Marmion said. \u201cThe absence of these safeguards here is telling.\u201d<\/p>\n A report titled \u201cChildren and Screens,\u201d commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in April and to which Borst contributed, concluded that certain algorithmic features should be considered addictive and banned from any app in France. The report also called for restricting social media access for minors under 15 in France. Neither measure has been adopted.<\/p>\n TikTok, which faced being shut down in the U.S. until President Donald Trump suspended a ban on it<\/a>, has also come under scrutiny globally<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. has seen similar legal efforts by parents. One lawsuit in Los Angeles County accuses Meta and its platforms Instagram and Facebook, as well as Snapchat and TikTok, of designing defective products that cause serious injuries. The lawsuit lists three teens who died by suicide. In another complaint, two tribal nations<\/a> accuse major social media companies, including YouTube owner Alphabet, of contributing to high rates of suicide among Native youths.<\/p>\n Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents who had lost children while testifying last year in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n In December, Australia enacted a groundbreaking law banning social media<\/a> accounts for children under 16.<\/p>\n In France, Boutron-Marmion expects TikTok Limited Technologies, the European Union subsidiary for ByteDance \u2014 the Chinese company that owns TikTok \u2014 to answer the allegations in the first quarter of 2025. Authorities will later decide whether and when a trial would take place.<\/p>\n When contacted by The Associated Press, TikTok said it had not been notified about the French lawsuit, which was filed in November. It could take months for the French justice system to process the complaint and for authorities in Ireland \u2014 home to TikTok\u2019s European headquarters \u2014 to formally notify the company, Boutron-Marmion said.<\/p>\n Instead, a Tiktok spokesperson highlighted company guidelines that prohibit content promoting suicide or self-harm.<\/p>\n Critics argue that TikTok\u2019s claims of robust moderation fall short.<\/p>\n Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, dismissed TikTok\u2019s assertion that over 98.8% of harmful videos had been flagged and removed between April and June.<\/p>\n When asked about the blind spots of their moderation efforts, social media platforms claim that users are able to bypass detection by using ambiguous language or allusions that algorithms struggle to flag, Ahmed said.<\/p>\n The term \u201calgospeak\u201d has been coined to describe techniques such as using zebra or armadillo emojis to talk about cutting yourself, or the Swiss flag emoji as an allusion to suicide.<\/p>\n Such code words \u201caren\u2019t particularly sophisticated,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cThe only reason TikTok can\u2019t find them when independent researchers, journalists and others can is because they\u2019re not looking hard enough,\u201d Ahmed said.<\/p>\n Ahmed\u2019s organization conducted a study in 2022 simulating the experience of a 13-year-old girl on TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin 2.5 minutes, the accounts were served self-harm content,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cBy eight minutes, they saw eating disorder content. On average, every 39 seconds, the algorithm pushed harmful material.\u201d<\/p>\n The algorithm \u201cknows that eating disorder and self-harm content is especially addictive\u201d for young girls.<\/p>\n For Mistre, the fight is deeply personal. Sitting in her daughter\u2019s room, where she has kept the decor untouched for the last three years, she said parents must know about the dangers of social media.<\/p>\n Had she known about the content being sent to her daughter, she never would have allowed her on TikTok, she said. Her voice breaks as she describes Marie as a \u201csunny, funny\u201d teenager who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.<\/p>\n \u201cIn memory of Marie, I will fight as long as I have the strength,\u201d she said. \u201cParents need to know the truth. We must confront these platforms and demand accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writers Haleluya Hadero and Zen Soo contributed to this story.<\/p>\n Photograph: Stephanie Mistre, 51, holds a picture of her daughter, Marie Le Tiec, a teenager who died by suicide in 2021, on Dec. 10, 2024, in Cassis, southern France. (AP Photo\/Tom Nouvian)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Topics<\/span> Lawsuits<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n