Lawyers Say Strict Child Controls In China Show TikTok Could Do Better

Lawyers in US lawsuits targeting social media firms over allegedly harmful behaviour affecting children are seeking information on protections TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, provides in China in an effort to show that it could behave more responsibly elsewhere.

ByteDance is refusing to provide information on user protections built into Douyin, the TikTok-equivalent service it operates in China, saying the information is not relevant, Bloomberg reported.

In October 2021 ByteDance introduced mandatory five-second pauses in its Chinese Douyin app, according to local media reports, amidst a broad Chinese government crackdown on excessive use of social media and other technology, such as gaming.

The move followed the announcement in the previous month of a three-year plan to rein in the time that users spent on internet content such as the short videos shown on Douyin and TikTok.

Strict controls

Douyin at the time introduced a stricter version of its mode for teenagers that limited viewing time for real-name authenticated users under the age of 14 to 40 minutes a day between 6am and 10pm.

Such tight regulatory oversight contrasts with the concerns expressed in the US litigation over alleged social media addiction in federal court in Oakland, California.

“The overseas version of the platform appears to protect children in China in ways that the US version does not afford children here,” lawyers said in a joint filing last week.

Lawyers for ByteDance rejected the claim, saying information about how its apps operate outside the US is irrelevant and would constitute “discovery detour”.

Addiction

“Those services were developed for use in other countries and are subject to different laws and regulations, reflecting those countries’ different cultures and priorities,” ByteDance’s lawyers said in a statement.

The California multi-district litigation covers hundreds of lawsuits filed on behalf of individual children who allegedly suffered negative physical, mental and emotional health effects from social media use including anxiety, depression and even suicide.

The action covers social media plaintiffs including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, ByteDance, YouTube and Google parent Alphabet and Snapchat parent Snap.

A federal judge last November ruled that the litigation could go ahead, rejecting arguments by social media companies that they were not subject to such lawsuits under First Amendment free-speech protections and the federal Communications Decency Act, a provision of which protects them from lawsuits over third-party content.

National security

More than 140 school districts have filed similar lawsuits against social media firms that are also before the same judge, and 42 statees as well as the District of Columbia last year sued Meta for youth addiction to its platforms in a separate case.

Tech companies have rejected the claims and have said they take action to keep young users safe.

TikTok is separately facing US legislation that seeks to force Douyin to divest its control of the platform or face a ban in the country, over national security concerns.