DV Journal

Bucks County officials filed a class action late Tuesday over the harm they claim Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube are inflicting on kids. The move makes Bucks the first county government entity in the nation to file that kind of litigation.

“It’s very personal to me,” said Solicitor Joseph Kahn, who noted he is also a parent. “What this lawsuit addresses is a mental health crisis that severely impacts children everywhere, particularly in Bucks County. Like parents everywhere, I have been wondering, what am I going to do about this?”

Kahn was joined by Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub, Commissioners Chair Robert Harvie, and Commissioners Diane Marseglia and Gene DiGirolamo.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco claims, “Youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media platforms deliberately designed to attract and addict youth to the platforms by amplifying harmful material, dosing users with dopamine hits, and thereby driving youth engagement and advertising revenue.

“Defendants Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube all design, market, promote, and operate social media platforms for which they have especially cultivated a young audience. They have successfully grown their platforms exponentially over the past decade, from millions to billions of users, particularly children, and teens.”

And those young people have suffered, the lawsuit alleges, raising costs for county taxpayers who pay for their mental health and other services.

“Bucks County residents have borne painful witness to all of this, firsthand, to devastating effect,” the lawsuit says. “For instance, in October 2022, a 15-year-old boy in Bucks County was arrested after threatening to ‘shoot up’ Central Bucks High School West via a Snapchat message. The boy also used TikTok to share videos of other mass shootings.”

Meta, the parent company for Facebook and Instagram, released a statement touting its efforts at promoting responsible social media use.

“We want teens to be safe online,” said Meta’s Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis. “We’ve developed more than 30 tools to support teens and families, including supervision tools that let parents limit the amount of time their teens spend on Instagram, and age verification technology that helps teens have age-appropriate experiences.

“We don’t allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders, and of the content we remove or take action on, we identify over 99 percent of it before it’s reported to us. We’ll continue to work closely with experts, policymakers, and parents on these important issues.”

Not good enough, Bucks County officials say, pointing to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing a surge in depression and suicidal thoughts among American teens between 2011 and 2021. That coincided with the explosion of social media use by teens.

“A Pew Research Study found that almost half of U.S. teenagers aged 13 to 17 say they are online ‘almost constantly,'” the lawsuit reads.

The county is asking for monetary damages and an injunction against the social media companies, officials told DVJournal during Wednesday’s press conference.

The county has a long history of providing mental health services to children and teenagers paid for by taxpayers. The lawsuit asks the court to make the social media companies pay, Kahn explained, adding the companies violate Pennsylvania’s fair trade practices law.

Bucks County isn’t the only government entity to sue social media companies over the alleged harm their products inflict on users. The Seattle public school system is suing several large social media companies. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has announced plans to sue as well.

Given the extremely deep pockets of social media companies like Facebook and YouTube, what chance does Bucks County have of winning this suit?

Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said, “I do liken it to a David versus Goliath situation, where we’re David. We’re taking on these enormous companies…They’ve not only taken advantage of our children, but they’ve preyed on our children.”

The mental health agencies have a “literal and figurative line out the door,” said Weintraub. “And it’s filled with our young people. We intend to win. We intend to stake our claim.”

Villanova law Professor and Vice Dean Michael Risch said the David vs. Goliath comparison is overly optimistic.

“David at least had the stone, right? But this David has nothing. The sling is empty,” Risch told DVJournal.

Risch pointed to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which protects internet providers from just this sort of liability for the content that third parties post on their sites. A case recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court claimed that Google is liable for terrorist videos, and the high court appeared unlikely to rule against the search site, he said.

“Here’s something one of your friends posted,” said Risch. “These are not terrorist videos. So, even if Google were to lose in the Supreme Court, it’s unclear whether the behavior of the tech companies is similar to serving up recruitment videos for terrorists because it’s harmful to kids to see other kids primping and doing whatever else they do.”

“This, by the way, is completely accepting these sites are harmful,” he added.

But if the case is allowed to progress, regardless of the final outcome, it could still be problematic for the social media giants.

“I can’t wait to begin discovery,” said Commissioner DiGirolamo. “Where we dig into the emails of the people who work for these companies. They knew what they were doing. ‘Not harmful and not addictive.’ Where have we heard that before? We heard it from the drug companies for many, many years. And (they) pushed these drugs on society.

“I think we’re going to find out these social media platforms knew exactly what they were doing and were preying on our young people. And we’d like to put an end to it, and we’d like to hold them accountable.”

A spokesman for TikTok said he could not comment on litigation but noted the company has various safeguards for underage users including limits on screen time.  Snapchat did not respond to a request for comment.

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The Biden administration issued an order Monday giving federal agencies 30 days to remove the Chinese-owned TikTok app from official government devices. The action was ordered by Congress late last year and, according to Reuters, is being taken “in a bid to keep U.S. data safe.”

But those concerns apparently haven’t reached the Pennsylvania congressional delegation where at least three members still have TikTok accounts.

As of Tuesday, Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman still had active TikTok accounts, as did Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks).

A review by States Newsroom in January found just 32 members of Congress, including seven senators, had TikTok accounts. Sens. Casey and Fetterman were two of them. Indeed, Fetterman joined TikTok last summer, long after the company’s problematic policies were well known.

TikTok has long been singled out for the app’s aggressive data collection, data that under Chinese law is accessible by the Communist Party regime that governs the nation. In addition to the data you give TikTok, the app also tracks what non-TikTok sites users visit, other apps you use, what you record using your phone camera and mic, and what content you watch using your phone, according to The Washington Post.

And while the parent company, ByteDance, says it keeps its U.S. data secure, “it’s still compelled to comply with requests for user data under Chinese law,” the Post notes.

In August 2020, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning new downloads of TikTok in the U.S. But it was never enacted and President Joe Biden rescinded the order when he took office.

Concerns about China’s espionage policies came to the fore when the public discovered the Biden administration was allowing a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the U.S. uninterrupted. Biden ordered the balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast.

“The ban of TikTok on federal devices was passed in December without any deliberation, and unfortunately that approach has served as a blueprint for other world governments,” said a TikTok spokeswoman.

“These bans are little more than political theater. We hope that when it comes to addressing national security concerns about TikTok beyond government devices, Congress will explore solutions that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans.

“The swiftest and most thorough way to address any national security concerns about TikTok is for CFIUS to adopt the proposed agreement that we worked with them on for nearly two years. These plans have been developed under the oversight of our country’s top national security agencies, and we are well underway in implementing them to further secure our platform in the United States,” she said.

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If you catch a member of the U.S. Senate watching middle-school teachers doing a dance routine from the musical “Cats” on TikTok, there is a very good chance that lawmaker is from Pennsylvania.

A review by States Newsroom found just 32 members of Congress, including seven senators, have TikTok accounts. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman are two of them. The Delaware Valley’s own Rep. Chrissy Houlahan is also on the list.

“While there are no laws in place banning lawmakers from using the app on their personal devices, cybersecurity experts have raised concerns over data collection for those members who deal with sensitive government topics,” the news service reported.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, over which China’s Communist regime has direct control. Chinese laws mandate companies doing business in that nation must make data available to the government.

TikTok has also been cited as one of the most invasive apps in wide use, sucking up personal data from devices unrelated to the funny dance videos and other content on the app. It can collect user contact lists, access calendars, even scan hard drives — including external ones.

And despite claims from ByteDance that American customers have nothing to worry about, a recent report from Buzzfeed News revealed leaked audio from TikTok meetings showed U.S. user data had been repeatedly accessed from China.

As a result, federal and state agencies have banned the app from government devices.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced last month TikTok has been banned from all of her department-issued devices.

“Treasury’s computer network is targeted by scammers and criminals every day,” Garrity said. “TikTok presents a clear danger due to its collection of personal data and its close connection to the communist Chinese government.”

Even the U.S. Senate, where Casey and Fetterman serve, unanimously passed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act banning the app from government devices. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wants to ban TikTok entirely.

“[TikTok] is China’s backdoor into Americans’ lives. It threatens our children’s privacy as well as their mental health,” Hawley tweeted on Tuesday. “Last month Congress banned it on all government devices. Now I will introduce legislation to ban it nationwide.”

The question for Casey and Fetterman is whether they use TikTok on the same devices they use for official business such as emails, spreadsheets, texts, etc. It is a question both senators declined to answer.

They also didn’t address the national security concerns raised by FBI Director Chris Wray, concerns that inspired the State Department, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security to ban the app from federal agency devices.

Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is a national security expert who chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He said the question of whether members of Congress should be using TikTok “is black and white.”

“Any government official who is on TikTok should immediately delete their account,” Rogers told Delaware Valley Journal. “Anything on that device is vulnerable to Chinese software, which could have a long tail of consequences. This isn’t a matter of a fun app on which you can scroll. It’s irresponsible to the constituents these elected officials took an oath to serve. Our national security is at stake.”

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced Thursday that the social media app TikTok, which the head of the FBI recently called a national security concern, has been banned from all of her department-issued devices. TikTok is owned by ByteDance and is based in Beijing.

“Treasury’s computer network is targeted by scammers and criminals every day,” Garrity said. “TikTok presents a clear danger due to its collection of personal data and its close connection to the communist Chinese government. Banning TikTok from Treasury devices and systems is an important step in our never-ending work to ensure the safety of Pennsylvanians’ hard-earned tax dollars and other important, sensitive information entrusted to Treasury.”

This month, Treasury conducted an internal security review and determined that TikTok had not been used on any Treasury-issued devices. In addition to Garrity’s ban, which covers phones, laptops, and desktop computers, Treasury’s firewall has been updated to block access to both the TikTok app and its corresponding website from the Treasury network.

Also, Congress is poised to ban federal employees from using TikTok on government devices, and many states – including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia – have banned the app. It has been prohibited by Florida’s Department of Financial Services, Louisiana’s Department of State, and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office. The Indiana Attorney General has filed two lawsuits against TikTok.

TikTok spokesman Jamal Brown said, “We’re disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok. TikTok is loved by millions of Americans, and it is unfortunate that the many state agencies, offices, universities, student groups, and sports teams in those states will no longer be able to use TikTok to build communities and share information.

“We are continuing to work with the federal government to finalize a solution that will meaningfully address any security concerns that have been raised at the federal and state level. These plans have been developed under the oversight of our country’s top national security agencies—plans that we are well underway in implementing—to further secure our platform in the United States, and we will continue to brief lawmakers on them,” Brown said.

Before joining TikTok in November, Brown formerly worked for President Joe Biden’s campaign and then the Pentagon.

Former President Donald Trump had similar concerns about TikTok security and banned the video app by executive order in 2020. However, Biden, who reversed most of Trump’s executive orders when he took office, revoked the TikTok ban, too.

Mike Caputo, who served as a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department in the Trump administration said, “Chinese TikTok is clearly a national security threat when it’s downloaded on government devices. Even more dangerous is the kind of federal bureaucrat who is stupid enough to download any Chinese app at all – imagine all the other foolish decisions they’re making.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

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