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Congress is doing social media hearings, and the American Decency Association (ADA, headquartered in Fremont, MI) reported about TikTok in its recent newsletter. TikTok targets US children's mental health in the worst way, and the ADA's call to action caught my eye.
The company ClaimsHero says parents whose children have been hurt by TikTok can join the fight by joining 46 out of 50 state Attorneys General in taking action against them.
It begs the question - is Michigan's AG Dana Nessel part of the Tiktok coalition, or one of the 4 holdouts??
As it turns out, Michigan is listed on the 46-state Amici Curiae (friend of the court) filing in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, seeking to "support an Order Compelling Compliance with the [TN] Attorney General's Request for Information."
Nessel's office issued the following press release on March 3, 2022.
AG Nessel Joins Nationwide Investigation into TikTok
LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a nationwide investigation into TikTok for providing and promoting its social media platform to children and young adults even though social media use is associated with physical and mental health harms to young people. Attorneys General nationwide are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws that put the public at risk.
AG Nessel has long expressed concern about the negative impacts of social media platforms on Michigan's youngest residents.
"Recent reports on social media's impact on the mental and physical health of young people raise serious questions among attorneys general across the nation. Ultimately, we are concerned about protecting our youth," Nessel said. "I am proud to join my colleagues in this investigation. Given this is an ongoing investigation, I will not be discussing any details beyond this announcement."
The investigation will look into the harms such usage causes to young users and what TikTok knew about those harms. The investigation focuses, 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 into both Meta and Tik Tok are Attorneys General from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont, who are joined by a broad group of Attorneys General nationwide.
Nessel's office issued an update on the Meta/Facebook suit last fall, but about TikTok - crickets.
It's been almost two years.
Kids are suffering terrible mental health issues.
I, for one, am curious whether the AG has made any progress on corraling the social platform owned by our national enemy.
Were the AGs granted friend of the court status? Have they achieved any of their goals?
Will Michigan get an update anytime soon?
Morning Brew report that Meta settles.
Still crickets on TikTok.
https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/meta-settles-childrens-mental-health-case-for-usd18b
Meta settles children’s mental health case for $18b
The owners of Facebook and Instagram will add new safety measures as part of the settlement
Dave Lozo | August 27, 2026
Meta agreed to pay as much as $18 billion to settle a federal lawsuit brought by California and other states that accused the company of using practices intentionally designed to keep children addicted to its platforms and of collecting data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
“As much as” means that Meta will pay the 47 states involved in the settlement $12.7 billion over the next 10 years. Meta will only pay the remaining $5.3 billion if its rivals TikTok and Google’s YouTube also implement similar safeguards to the ones Meta agreed to as part of its deal to resolve the suit—and kick in a matching $5.3 billion of their own. Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Here are some of the Facebook and Instagram changes Meta agreed to make:
Time limit: Users aged 13 to 17 will only get two hours per day for brainrot on its platforms.
Night mode: Teens will be blocked from the apps between midnight and 6am.
School mode: There’ll be no push notifications for teen users during school hours of 8am to 3pm.
Meta will also hide likes and reactions from minors on posts by default and block “extreme makeup filters,” although adults will still be able to yassify themselves and their pets.The impact on Meta’s business
Fewer kids spending time on Instagram looking at reposted MrBeast content at 3am could impact Meta’s ad business. Yesterday, the company said it expects to “accrue a legal expense of approximately $10 billion in the third quarter of 2026 related to the agreement.”But the deal takes away the existential threat Meta was facing from the trial, as the states were seeking up to $1.4 trillion, which is close to Meta’s whole market cap.
Investor reaction: Meta shares had an up-and-down day yesterday, but ultimately finished slightly up when the market closed.
There’s still litigation to come…Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, is not part of this deal and has sued the company separately. Meta is also facing other lawsuits from individuals and school districts. Meta plans on fighting those cases, saying it sees them as weaker than the one it settled yesterday, according to the Washington Post.—DL
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