Plaintiffs from across the country have filed lawsuits against TikTok and other social media companies. Currently, there are three main categories of cases against TikTok.
Individual personal injury lawsuits against TikTok
These cases are typically filed by parents and guardians of children who have been harmed by social media apps like TikTok. They can also be filed by people who are now young adults but began using TikTok as minors.
Common harms experienced by these plaintiffs include a decline in mental health and the development of body image issues.
Motley Rice represents people who have filed personal injury claims in the social media harm mass tort, In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3047. In June 2025, five individual lawsuits were chosen for bellwether trials. Bellwether trials are a way to test how the rest of the lawsuits are likely to go.
School district lawsuits against TikTok
These cases are filed by school districts that have had to shoulder increased costs because their students are compulsively using social media. These include the costs of hiring additional counselors and safety officers, and the costs of property damage to school buildings and property.
Motley Rice is currently representing school districts as part of the social media harm MDL. In June 2025, six school district lawsuits were chosen for bellwether trials.
Government agency lawsuits against TikTok
Dozens of state attorneys general have also filed lawsuits against social media companies. Like the personal injury and school district lawsuits, the attorneys general allege social media apps were designed to be addictive to children and that the companies misled the public about the harm they were causing.
In May 2024, Nebraska’s AG challenged ByteDance’s claims that TikTok is safe for children, arguing that it’s designed to be addictive. The lawsuit claims that TikTok doesn’t adhere to its own community standards.
In October 2024, more than a dozen state attorneys general filed lawsuits against TikTok. Like the personal injury and school district lawsuits, the attorneys general allege that:
- TikTok and other social media apps were designed to be addictive to children
- The companies misled the public about the harm they cause
- ByteDance’s use of a virtual currency similar to poker chips exploits children due to insufficient age verification requirements
The state of Texas also filed a suit in October 2024, accusing ByteDance of violating the state’s new Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s complaint says TikTok’s parental control features don’t meet SCOPE Act requirements for protecting children’s personal data.