Attorney General Miyares joins nationwide investigation into TikTok

Attorney General Jason Miyares, on March 2, 2022, joined a nationwide investigation into TikTok and its impact on physical and mental health for children and young adults. Attorneys General nationwide are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.

Attorney General Miyares has long expressed concern about the negative impacts of social media platforms on Virginia’s youngest residents.

“Virginia has officially joined a bipartisan, nationwide investigation into TikTok’s platform and its effect on the mental and physical health of kids and young people. Our children are in the midst of a mental health crisis, and the negative effects of social media platforms like TikTok on our youth have raised concerns for some time,” said Attorney General Miyares.

The investigation will focus, among other things, on the techniques utilized by TikTok to boost young user engagement, including increasing the duration of time spent on the platform and frequency of engagement with the platform.

In May 2021, a bipartisan coalition of 44 Attorneys General urged Facebook to abandon its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under 13. In November 2021, Attorneys General from across the country announced their investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for providing and promoting its social media platform Instagram to kids.

Leading the investigation is a bipartisan coalition of Attorneys General from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. They are joined by a broad group of Attorneys General from across the country.