Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sued TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, for allegedly lying about how safe the app is for minors, his office announced Tuesday.

“Today we join concerned parents across our state to stand up for Alabama’s children,” Marshall said.

“TikTok preys on young people, feeding them dangerous and damaging content while lying to parents about how safe the app really is. This platform was designed to addict kids and put profits ahead of the mental health of an entire generation.”

Filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, the suit alleges that TikTok deliberately targets minors and is fueling a mental health crisis in the state.

“TikTok’s algorithm is specifically designed to steer the user towards more videos that will keep the user scrolling,” the lawsuit alleges. “That process leads young viewers down dangerous rabbit holes, such as toward content that promotes suicide or self-harm.”

Because the app is intentionally addictive but does not reveal this to parents or children, the lawsuit asserts the app is in violation of Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also claims that features like “Kids Mode” and “Restricted Mode” are supposedly meant to block inappropriate material but are easily avoided.

“TikTok’s so-called ‘safety features’ are a joke,” Marshall said. “They are nothing more than a marketing ploy to trick parents into trusting a product that TikTok knows full well is dangerous.“

Marshall also claims TikTok and ByteDance are committing, “espionage against Americans’ personal information,” because the ByteDance is a Chinese-based company.

In October 2024, a bipartisan group of attorneys general sued TikTok over similar concerns regarding the app’s negative influence on childrens’ mental health.

Much of the bipartisan vitriol for TikTok is due to its rise in popularity and concerns by governmental officials that the app is a national security concern which led to its short-lived ban in January.

Along with seeking civil penalties the Alabama lawsuit seeks injunctive relief against TikTok for the company to halt its, “misleading practices pertaining to youth safety.”