Lawmaker calls for French criminal investigation into TikTok

"The conclusion is clear: TikTok has deliberately endangered the health and lives of its users. That is why I have decided to refer the matter to the Paris public prosecutor. It seems to me that there are offences of a criminal nature, of active complicity, and secondly, when TikTok executives came to see us, they told us that they were unaware of anything and I believe that this also constitutes perjury."

"The French parliamentary committee was set up to examine TikTok and its psychological effects on young people after a 2024 French lawsuit against the platform by seven families who accused it of exposing their children to content that was pushing them towards ending their lives. The parliament committee's final report, published on Thursday, found that TikTok was like a slow poison to children. The co-head of the inquiry, centrist lawmaker Laure Miller, told France Info that TikTok was an ocean of harmful content that was very visible to children through algorithms that kept them in a bubble."

"The report recommended that children under 15 in France should be banned entirely from using social media, and those aged between 15 and 18 should face a night-time digital curfew, meaning social media would be made unavailable to them between 10pm and 8am. The report also called for a major public information campaign and a new offence of digital negligence for irresponsible parents who did not oversee their children's use of social media."

A French lawmaker requested the Paris public prosecutor open a criminal investigation into whether TikTok endangered young users' lives. The lawmaker co-chaired a six-month parliamentary inquiry that collected testimony from families, social media executives and influencers. The inquiry concluded that TikTok's algorithms exposed minors to harmful content and that executives may have misled investigators. A 2024 lawsuit by seven families alleging exposure of children to self-harm content prompted the committee. The committee described TikTok as a slow poison for children and recommended bans for under-15s, a 10pm–8am curfew for 15–18-year-olds, and a new digital negligence offence for parents.

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