Arizona attorney general sues TikTok over addictive design aimed at minors

Arizona's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the company of deliberately designing its app to keep children and teenagers hooked while hiding the risks from their parents.

Attorney General Kris Mayes brought the civil complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday, arguing that TikTok breached Arizona's Consumer Fraud Act through deceptive practices, unlawful concealment and unfair conduct. The case targets TikTok and its affiliated companies, including parent firm ByteDance.

The complaint alleges that the platform was engineered to maximise compulsive use among minors, including children under 13, so the company could profit from their data. Mayes claims TikTok misled Arizona parents about the dangers their children faced and misrepresented the value of its safety features.

Design features in the complaint

The lawsuit centres on specific design tools: infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications and appearance-altering filters. Mayes argues these features interfere with users' ability to make free choices and encourage compulsive use.

The complaint describes the infinite scroll feed as rewarding users at unpredictable intervals with engaging content, allowing them to keep watching without making a conscious decision each time. It also points to temporary or ephemeral content, such as live features, which the lawsuit says creates a fear of missing out that pushes young people to log on continuously.

Mayes alleges TikTok concealed or failed to disclose risks including depression, anxiety, sleep disruption, disordered eating, body-image distress and self-harm. The filing quotes internal company research, including the TikTank Report, which the complaint says found that social media use "can become habitual or excessive" and that severe cases could lead to negative life consequences. The attorney general's office also cites internal documents in which researchers theorised that screen time tools did not work for teenagers because they lacked the executive function to manage their own usage.

According to the attorney general, the company's own records show that on average more than 543,000 minors in Arizona used the platform each month between 30 April 2022 and 31 December 2023. She said TikTok tracks session duration, sessions by hour and age group, information the complaint claims was used to make the platform more appealing and to sell advertising.

In a statement, Mayes said the platform was engineered to exploit the vulnerabilities of developing brains and that it failed to protect children from adults who use it to groom or solicit minors. She called the situation unconscionable.

The complaint also alleges that TikTok knowingly allows children under 13 on the platform despite saying it bars them, that "post-in-private" accounts enabled child sexual exploitation and the circulation of child sexual abuse material, and that some safety features were withheld from certain users for "placebo testing" without their knowledge, according to reports of the filing.

TikTok's response

A TikTok spokesperson rejected the allegations in a statement: "This lawsuit relies on misleading and inaccurate claims and deliberately ignores the concrete safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community. We will vigorously defend against these claims."

The company points to a 2023 feature that gives under-18 users a 60-minute daily screen time limit, though teenagers can opt out, and a prompt after 100 minutes of use. Mayes's office argues those tools are not effective for young users.

Penalties sought and wider litigation

Mayes is asking the court for injunctive relief, repayment of profits tied to the alleged deceptive conduct, and up to about £7,600 (US$10,000) for each wilful violation of the consumer fraud law.

The Arizona case arrives amid extensive litigation over youth safety. It comes two years after more than a dozen states sued TikTok over similar allegations; that case is still pending, and Arizona was not in a position to join it at the time, according to the attorney general's spokesman Richie Taylor.

The lawsuit follows the settlement Meta announced on 26 August with a coalition of state attorneys general: at least £9.2 billion (US$12.1 billion), rising to up to £13.0 billion (US$17.1 billion), according to the New York Attorney General, with Arizona's share reported as £169 million (US$223 million). Mayes said at the time that the attorneys general behind that settlement would work to bring other companies, naming TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, on board with similar safety measures.

Alabama settled its own case against TikTok and ByteDance last month, with the company agreeing to pay at least £76 million (US$100 million) and introduce a two-hour daily limit for underage users, extra parental controls and restrictions on unlimited scrolling, overnight access and beauty filters.

Background: claims against the platforms

The Arizona filing sits within a wider pattern of social media harm claims in US courts. In September 2026 a judge found TikTok liable in Texas for deceiving parents about the app's safety, with a separate penalties trial due. Personal injury trials against YouTube, Snap and Meta were scheduled for October 2026. In the UK, the Online Safety Act allows Ofcom to fine platforms up to £18 million or 10 per cent of global annual income for child safety failures, and the EU's Digital Services Act requires very large platforms to assess and reduce risks, including harm to children, and to avoid deceptive design.

Anyone affected by the issues in this article can contact Samaritans free on 116 123 or at samaritans.org.