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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: TikTok It's been sued by over a dozen states for

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Speaker 2: allegedly deceiving users about its safety for children, and for

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Speaker 2: using addictive features to keep kids on the platform longer

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Speaker 2: to maximize profits. One of those states is New Jersey.

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Speaker 2: As Attorney General map Platkin joins us now for more,

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Speaker 2: Attorney General, why pick this particular fight with TikTok It's

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Speaker 2: already being sued by the FEDS for child privacy issues.

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Speaker 2: It might even be banned in the United States. Tell

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Speaker 2: us the underlying reason for pursuing.

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Speaker 3: This, Well, we know we're facing a youth mental health

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Speaker 3: crisis in this country, and unfortunately, New Jersey is no exception.

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Speaker 3: And as we have shown in a number of actions,

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Speaker 3: we know that social media companies have knowingly targeted our

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Speaker 3: youth in ways that have damaged their mental health and

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Speaker 3: caused them real harm. And then, to make matters worse,

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Speaker 3: they've told the public that these products are safe when

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Speaker 3: they themselves know they are not. So. The lawsuits that

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Speaker 3: New Jersey and several other states filed yesterday are meaningfully

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Speaker 3: different than the lawsuit that you referenced that the Department

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Speaker 3: of Justices filed it's for violation of our state consumer

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Speaker 3: laws for again misleading the public about the safety of

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Speaker 3: their products and deliberately treating our youngest residents as nothing

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Speaker 3: more than commodities.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about what's materially different from October twenty fourth

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Speaker 2: last year, when New Jersey and other states also sued Meta,

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Speaker 2: the parent company of Instagram or Facebook, again to protect children,

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Speaker 2: mental health and the like. How are the two actions different.

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Speaker 2: What do you see in particular with TikTok.

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Speaker 3: Well, legally, they're distinct lawsuits, and these investigations have been

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Speaker 3: underway for some time, and investigations of these kinds take time.

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Speaker 3: But as a general matter, we know that social media

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Speaker 3: companies like Meta and TikTok have targeted our youth, have

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Speaker 3: deliberately taken steps to keep our youth on their platforms

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Speaker 3: for long periods of time, have implemented features like TikTok

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Speaker 3: has with respect to body image features that allow you

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Speaker 3: to put yourself on TikTok as if you had plastic

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Speaker 3: surgery or extensive makeup that cause real harm to kids'

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Speaker 3: mental health. That's created body dysmorphia crises and mental health crises,

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Speaker 3: particularly amongst young girls, and so in that sense, the

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Speaker 3: lawsuits are similar in that you see similar patterns across them,

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Speaker 3: but they are distinct lawsuits and meta because the Department

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Speaker 3: of Justice had not filed a federal claim about children's

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Speaker 3: privacy in Meta, we filed a claim there under that law,

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Speaker 3: whereas the Department of Justice, as you noted, had stepped

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Speaker 3: in on TikTok, so we did not need to file

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Speaker 3: a federal claim. But otherwise there are some similarities across

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Speaker 3: the two complaints.

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Speaker 1: Well, Attorney General Plaquin, forgive me for many of your

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Speaker 1: constituents that that's a fair question. What's the point There

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Speaker 1: is a federal suit against TikTok, there's a legislative effort

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Speaker 1: to get it banned in this country, and you've chosen

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Speaker 1: a long path with this specific initiative. Why do it

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Speaker 1: if there are all those others already in place, some

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Speaker 1: of which have analogous goals with what you're trying to achieve.

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Speaker 3: Well, the federal alsuit, plain and simple, covers different conduct here.

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Speaker 3: We're talking about deliberately misleading the public about the safety

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Speaker 3: of their products, about telling people that their product is

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Speaker 3: safe when they know it's not. When the United States

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Speaker 3: Surgeon General has said publicly, it's not that they should

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Speaker 3: have a warning label on it, and kids are using

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Speaker 3: TikTok in particular for hours and hours a day, when

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Speaker 3: we know just a few hours of TikTok a day

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Speaker 3: can cause significant mental health harms to our kids. Now,

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Speaker 3: I'm the States Attorney General. I'm the chief law enforcement

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Speaker 3: officer for nine point three million people. My job is

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Speaker 3: to keep them safe. And when I see a company

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Speaker 3: peddling a product targeting our youngest residents, treating them for

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Speaker 3: nothing more than dollar signs, and putting profit ahead of

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Speaker 3: their mental health, then I have an obligation to step

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Speaker 3: in and protect them. And that's what this lawsuit and

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Speaker 3: the lawsuit against Meta is doing.

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Speaker 1: Mister Patkin, if this proceeds and goes before a jury,

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Speaker 1: how will you show that what TikTok does is intentional,

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Speaker 1: that it is malicious in your accusation that they are

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Speaker 1: profiting off young users.

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Speaker 3: Well, I'm not going to speak to what we'd eventually

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Speaker 3: show at a trial, but I think our complaint lays

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Speaker 3: out very clearly what TikTok knew and the harms that

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Speaker 3: their products have caused, including the result is that we

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Speaker 3: have essentially come pulsive users of TikTok products ages thirteen,

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Speaker 3: eight to seventeen throughout our state and throughout this country,

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Speaker 3: and we know at the same time we're experiencing a

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Speaker 3: massive spike in mental health challenges for our youths. Suicidal, ideation, depression, anxiety,

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Speaker 3: all up at historic levels. So we're very confident in

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Speaker 3: the case that we've brought against TikTok. We obviously wouldn't

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Speaker 3: bring a lawsuit like this if we didn't feel very

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Speaker 3: confident in our case and if we weren't prepared to

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Speaker 3: take on what is as with Meta, one of the

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Speaker 3: largest companies in the world. And my message is simple,

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Speaker 3: we're ready for that fight.

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Speaker 1: EU Jersey Attorney General Matt Plakin, thank you very much

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Speaker 1: for your time.