the essential
Having become addicted to the social network TikTok, Maële, 17, made several suicide attempts. Her mother, living in Strasbourg, denounces a toxic influence and demands accountability from this internet giant whom she holds responsible for the deterioration of her daughter’s mental health. An appeal before the Créteil court was filed with six other families.
“I feel empty, my life has no interest, what is the point of living anymore, I am transparent”. These chilling words are those of Maële (not her real name), 17 years old today and who made several suicide attempts during her schooling. According to this teenager living in Strasbourg, the algorithm of the Chinese social network TikTok made her totally addicted to suicidal content. His mother, Morgane, a teacher in Bas-Rhin, wants to alert young people and parents “of the dangers that await their children caught in a vicious spiral”. This mother is one of seven families in France who filed an appeal before the Créteil judicial court against TikTok on November 4. Civil proceedings, initiated by lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, intended “to have TikTok’s responsibility recognized in the deterioration of the state of health of their children, two of whom committed suicide”. A strong and unique approach to address a real public health challenge, which is still too underestimated.
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Suicide of two teenage girls, self-mutilation, eating disorders… why TikTok is being taken to court by 7 French families
Hypersensitive young girl
Hypersensitive, jovial, hyper creative, joyful and passionate about singing, Maële first suffered ostracism from students in fourth grade, when she had just got her first cell phone. “Children were against her and tried to isolate her,” says Morgane. “On her body, I noticed slight scarifications, I see that she has dark thoughts and then refuses to go to college.” Maële is taken care of by a psychologist but manages to continue her education at high school. “She installs TikTok on her phone in February 2021. A friend tells her, you’ll see it’s funny…! But her discomfort grows. “I see her trembling in her room, she tries to cut her veins…” Maële is hospitalized. She is prescribed antidepressants but nothing helps. At the beginning of January 2022, the teenager wants to finish it and takes pills again. Doctors detect attention disorders and especially “emotional dysregulation”, “a strong feeling of emptiness and suicidal crises”.
“A stool, a rope…”
Until first grade, Maële alternated between hospital stays and suicide attempts, feeling extremely tired every morning. “No caregiver made the link with social networks, we didn’t even ask them the question,” marvels Morgane who is taking all the initiatives to get her daughter out of this bad situation. “We, parents, are often criticized for not monitoring our children, for not paying attention to what they are watching on their phone. We are responsible for their education, but depriving them of a phone is also take the risk of isolating them, of cutting them off from their friends. You can’t be in front of your child every second, so it’s very easy to criticize. On TikTok, and for 18 months, Maële received content about “taking a stool, a rope”. According to Morgane, “the algorithm only sent her videos related to suicide, she had become conditioned, like in a cult. Her community was in her image. It’s simply horrible! It’s actually about “a trivialization of death and suicide, on these videos, we explain to him what medication to take, or what blades to obtain, it is this type of algorithm that has prospered on his discussion thread”. The height of cynicism, Maële comes across an explanatory video: “If you end up in hospital, it doesn’t count…”
After numerous medical treatments and after reducing the use of the social network to 30 minutes per day, Maële found some peace. “I’m ashamed to put you through all this,” confides Maële to those around her.
“She repeated her first grade,” adds Morgane, “and she is still fragile. Every morning, I wake up wondering if she is still alive.”
What TikTok said
The social network TikTok publishes the following press releases aimed at explaining its policy for disseminating content deemed dangerous and illicit.
“From January to June 2024, we received approximately 144,000 reports of illegal content corresponding to approximately 100,000 unique pieces of content. We estimate that 29% of this content was found to be in violation of our policies or local law, and made the actioned accordingly. Across the 27 EU member states, we removed more than 22 million pieces of content over the period, including videos, videos and content. livestreams and ads, for violating our community guidelines and advertising policies. We have also banned more than 5 million accounts for violating our rules. Finally, specifies the social network: “Our automated moderation technology now removes 80% of violent videos, compared to 62% last year. More than 6,000 people moderate content in EU languages, covering at least one language official for each EU country – which is consistent with previous reporting periods.
