New York Federal Court Dismisses Public Nuisance Class Action Against TikTok Over Disruptive Challenges
April 27, 2023
A New York federal court has dismissed a public nuisance class action lawsuit filed by plaintiff Leah Greco against social media giant TikTok’s parent company. Greco filed the putative class action on behalf of school districts in New York, Pennsylvania, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, North Carolina, and Connecticut. The lawsuit alleges that the platform’s challenges have caused significant disruption and harm in schools, unreasonably interfering with the school districts’ rights to provide a conducive educational environment. As a result, schools have been forced to devote resources to remedy destruction of property and violence caused by these challenges.
The plaintiff invoked federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and sought restitution, a judgment directing TikTok to cease contributing to and immediately abate the nuisance within the proposed school districts, as well as monetary damages. TikTok filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, citing lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction, and failure to state a claim. The class allegations from the complaint are also being contested under Rule 12(f).
TikTok, a California-based corporation, provides a social media video-sharing platform primarily targeted at young users. The platform often features “challenges” which require users to perform, record, and share various acts. According to the lawsuit, TikTok has been delivering challenges involving destruction and theft of property, as well as violence towards others, which have been promoted to school-aged children through the platform’s proprietary algorithm.
The plaintiff claims that these challenges are a key factor in TikTok’s long-term growth, as they involve user engagement rather than passive use. She alleges that the challenges exploit students’ developing prefrontal cortex by appealing to their desires for acceptance and importance among peers. School districts have reportedly incurred increased costs and expenses in addressing the issues arising from TikTok challenges, including diverting resources from instructional activities, increased supervision, and repairing damaged equipment.
However, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s argument that taxpayers would be burdened with increased costs for stronger security measures at schools as pure conjecture. The outcome of this case highlights the challenges in holding social media platforms responsible for user-generated content that could lead to harm or disruption in educational environments.