In total, seven families are suing TikTok before the Créteil judicial court. They want to be recognized “the role played by the TikTok platform in the free circulation of content promoting self-harm, suicide and eating disorders”. An unprecedented group action in Europe, according to their lawyer Me Laure Boutron-Marmion: “The legal action calls into question this non-moderation of content, which has undeniably affected the psyche and physical health of these children.” Two ended their lives.
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“She was bombarded with negative posts”
Around the central island of their kitchen, Delphine Dapui and Jérémy Parkiet paint the portrait of a child “joyful, very smiling, hypersensitive, sporty”. Charlize does judo and synchronized swimming with her friends. She looks Friends et Stranger Things with his parents. She will never share her discomfort with them. Charlize hides her school bullying. She says nothing about events that impact her young adolescence: the death of her grandfather, a burglary, confinement. Charlize develops a school phobia and has anxiety attacks. He sometimes scars himself. “We were never able to broach the subject, it Jérémy Parkiet, 44 ans. We were focused on changing his mind.” To support her, Charlize’s parents file a complaint for the harassment she suffered, and report it to the rectorate. With her big sister, Charlize goes to summer camp. She rides the rides at Europa-Park, she visits New York, she surfs in the Landes. This will be his last summer. “It was in 2023 that we did the most things, said his father. It seemed to be getting better.” When she entered second grade, Charlize had already attempted suicide three times. She spends a lot of time on her phone. She was hospitalized several times and was followed by a psychiatrist and a psychologist. Less than two months after the start of the school year, Jérémy Parkiet found his daughter hanging in the closet of his room. The day before her suicide, Charlize had reposted a video on TikTok. The text said: “It seems that the night brings advice. She advised me to take a rope and a stool.”
A legal support unit for victims of social networks and their families, the Algos Victima collective was created by lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion after the suicide of Marie, in Cassis, in September 2021. “Marie’s case is first and foremost a case of school harassment, said the lawyer. But we quickly realized a problem with the TikTok platform.” Marie was exposed to inappropriate content, according to the lawyer. A complaint against TikTok for incitement to suicide was filed in September 2023. “What we denounced in Marie’s affair is more systemic, pointe Me Laure Boutron-Marmion. When we are already faced with a teenager who is doing badly, the spiral is even more terrible. The trap that closes is even faster. It will increase his discomfort.” In an email response, TikTok tells Liberation not have “received no notification relating to this legal proceeding”. The social network claims to delete “any content evoking an act, or attempt, of suicide, suicidal thoughts or any other content that could incite people to commit acts of suicide or self-harm”.
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Charlize spent time on screens. “She took refuge on her phone, remembers his mother, 47 years old. She watched videos of cats, stupid things about people falling.” Parental controls are removed while she is in college. It was only after his death that the parents became aware of the reposted videos. They transcribe his discomfort. “It scrolls. From the moment we watch the video, the algorithm suggests again, remarks Delphine Dapui. From there, she fell into a spiral. She thought she was affected by everything: anorexia, scarification, depression, school phobia.” Her husband agrees: “She was bombarded with negative posts and people expressing their discomfort on TikTok. It didn’t help her get better. It is unacceptable that this kind of content is accessible to children.”
“A fragile terrain”
Laurence Joseph receives in his office “many young girls fed by social networks”. The clinical psychologist, attached to the hospital institute of psychoanalysis at Sainte-Anne hospital in Paris, welcomes patients – the problem mainly concerns young girls – whose screen time can reach eight hours a day. “There is an invasion by digital discourse. Young girls will be caught up, she explains. The social network makes the adolescent believe that it is speaking to her innermost being, her inner world, her secrets. But this is a false link.” Charlize and Marie were being bullied at school. “To succumb to the voice of TikTok and lock yourself away, you must already be in a place of fragility, continues Laurence Joseph. Some teenagers finally feel understood. The bias is that the algorithm always goes their way. From the moment they are on a depressive slope, he will encourage them in their death wishes. Unlike what any human would do.” The question of the place of the telephone is central. Laurence Joseph advises “keep an eye on the account” and of “pick up cell phones in the evening” : “The first mission is to worry as soon as you see that your teenager is spending too much time on their screen.”
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Delphine Dapui did not have a TikTok account. Jérémy Parkiet had deactivated his notifications. Two days after Charlize’s death, the couple opened a tribute page on TikTok. Photos and videos are accompanied by music. Memories of Charlize with her cat, in the mountains, at judo. “We will do everything to understand how you could be convinced that you were too weak for this world,” write his parents.
