Advocates Sound Alarm on TikTok, Social Media Apps’ Harmful Effects on Young People

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) in Washington on Jan. 8, 2021. York Du/The Epoch Times

The fight over banning TikTok in the United States goes beyond national security implications—with youth mental health as one of the main reasons cited by both proponents and opponents of the popular app.

And that issue does not just apply to the Chinese Communist Party-tied platform.

“You can say social media, in general, could potentially have an impact,” TikTok influencer Tim Martin told The Epoch Times on March 22.

“But that partially lies on the parents to make sure that they’re monitoring what the kids are listening to, what the kids are watching. That goes with TV, that goes with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.”

Not Just TikTok

However, TikTok opponents have warned of the app’s harmful effects on young people.

Kara Frederick, the director of the Tech Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, decried on March 23 the platform promoting “suicidal content, eating disorders, [and] self-harm.”

She cited the TikTok “Blackout Challenge.”

Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a group fighting against far-left agendas in K–12 schools nationwide, told The Epoch Times on March 23 that the issue of social media and its impact on the mental health of America’s youth does not stop at TikTok.

“I think it’s really interesting as far as other social media platforms are concerned. We have school districts right now across the country that are working to sue social media companies.

“We have individual people that are looking to sue social media companies, not only TikTok,” she said. “I think Seattle Public Schools was one of the first ones to come out and say this is hurting kids in our district.”

On Jan. 10, Seattle Public Schools announced that four days prior it “filed a complaint against the companies operating TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube.”

“And these aren’t even their children, right? These are our children, parents’ children, but the districts are realizing the effects this is having,” continued Justice.

“So I think what you’re seeing is just the beginning of a turning of the tide on social media in America.

“TikTok is being handled in this way [with calls for a nationwide ban], but I think American parents are getting very wise to the games that are being played on social media by predators who want to take our children off course and we’re going to work really hard to stop it in as many ways as we can.”

Mental Health Issues

As it pertains to TikTok, in addition to national security concerns, one of the criticisms of the platform is that it negatively affects the mental health of young people.

The negative impacts of social media on young people are nothing new.

A November 2018 Pew Research survey showed that 45 percent of teenagers said they feel overwhelmed by social media drama and 43 percent of teens said they feel “pressure to only post content that makes them look good to others.”

Additionally, 37 percent of teens feel “pressure to post content that will get lots of likes/comments” and 26 percent of teens feel “worse about their own life.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram to ask what steps they are taking to ensure the mental health of young people is being taken into consideration.

Snapchat told The Epoch Times on April 14 it has been taking steps to address the mental health of its young users. They cited an in-app support system called “Here For You,” which refers users to resources from relevant groups. It also has an anti-bullying campaign called “Friend Check Up,” which ensures users check to make sure their Friend list only has people they want on it. They also shared other initiatives where they’ve teamed up with outside groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Ad Council.

In 2022, Snapchat launched an in-app feature called “Family Center,” which “helps parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, while still respecting their teens’ privacy and autonomy,” according to the platform.

In September 2021, Facebook said it, “refined our policy for a specific type of content that doesn’t break our rules but may trivialize themes around suicide, death or depression.

Making Things Harder to Discover

“Experts agree it’s important we allow these kinds of posts—to make sure people can talk about how they’re feeling and friends and family have the chance to reach out—but that we need to balance this with protecting others from potentially upsetting content.

“Rather than removing it completely, we’ll aim to not recommend this content in places like Explore on Instagram, making it harder to discover.

“We hope this helps strike this delicate balance, and we’ll continue to consult with experts as research in this area develops.”

Frederick told The Epoch Times on March 23 there is a solution to protecting America’s children on social media: “a national data protection framework.”

She explained that “TikTok gave user data from other companies. And in order to let Americans know how their data is used, shared, stored, and collected, that’s imperative.

“So I think contending with that in a national data protection framework, in a bipartisan manner, I think it’s gonna happen and I think it should happen. And that would resolve a lot of issues that we’re facing with these other platforms.”