Recent reports and court documents suggest that TikTok’s internal research acknowledges potential negative effects on teenagers’ mental health. According to NPR and Kentucky Public Radio, this information came to light as part of a lawsuit filed by fourteen U.S. attorneys general, which claims TikTok harms children’s mental health. Some of the lawsuit’s material, initially redacted, was revealed when reporters managed to read it by copy-pasting the text.

The lawsuit from Kentucky points to TikTok’s own findings, which reportedly link compulsive usage of the app to various mental health issues, such as decreased analytical skills, memory formation, and empathy, alongside increased anxiety. The suit also critiques a TikTok feature designed to allow parents to limit their children’s usage, which apparently only reduced usage by an average of 1.5 minutes per day. This feature’s efficacy was measured not by its impact on usage but by its role in improving public trust in TikTok through media coverage.

In response to these allegations, a TikTok spokesperson criticized the reporting as “highly irresponsible,” arguing that it cherry-picks and misrepresents information to unfairly portray the company’s commitment to community safety. This controversy highlights ongoing concerns about the impact of social media on youth mental health and the responsibilities of platforms like TikTok in addressing these issues.