TikTok

Long Island Parents Sue TikTok, Claim Videos Glorifying Suicide Led to Teen's Death

TikTok had not responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit as of early Friday afternoon. Dean and Michelle Nasca traveled to Washington, D.C. to witness the congressional hearing regarding the app

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A Long Island couple is suing the company that owns TikTok, saying that videos on the popular social media app glorified suicide and led to their son’s death.

Dean and Michelle Nasca state in the lawsuit that the app directed more than 1,000 videos promoting suicide, hopelessness and self-harm to their 16-year-old son Chase’s curated "For You" page. The couple alleges that TikTok sent Chase the videos, even though he never searched for any of those terms.

The teenager jumped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train in 2022.

"I would just like to see mainly that the stopping of promoting these types of videos that my son was getting,” said Michelle Nasca.

The lawsuit claims the TikTok worked with certain accounts to share depressing and violent material not meant for children — but readily available to them. The platform also made suggestions in order for the videos to get amplified further based on their programming and algorithm.

The parents said that Chase had no history of anxiety or depression and that he started to be directed to the accounts with dark content starting in Oct. 2021. On Feb. 18, 2022, after going to the gym to work out he stopped at the train tracks and messaged a friend on Snapchat, saying simply "I can't do it anymore."

TikTok didn't respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit as of early Friday afternoon.

Dean and Michelle Nasca,
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Dean and Michelle Nasca, parents of Chase Nasca who died by suicide last February, attend a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 23, 2023. TikTok's chief executive officer faced pointed questions about the app's relationship with its Chinese parent company in his debut appearance before Congress, where combative lawmakers made it clear they don't accept his promise to keep users and their data safe. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Nascas and their attorney traveled to Washington, D.C. Thursday for a congressional hearing on TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

"We are seeking to hold TikTok accountable for engaging in dangerous and harmful practices that put our children at risk of self-harm all in the name of ‘engagement’ to increase their ad revenues,” attorney Matthew P. Bergman said ahead of the hearing. "To maximize user engagement and increase profits, TikTok creates and co-creates harmful content and deliberately targets children in the United States with violent, dangerous, extreme and psychologically disturbing content from which they cannot look away."

Another core issue at the hearing was whether TikTok is a national security threat, given a Chinese law that could allow the country to access user data. Both Republicans and Democrats are concerned that China might be using the app as an information-gathering tool here in the U.S.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday.

New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone joined other lawmakers in Grilling TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the platform's alleged links to the Chinese government, as well as the protection of user data.

"Under our bill, you could only use the data for your own purposes, not to sell it to anyone.  Would you commit to not sell it to anyone?" asked Rep. Pallone, to which Chew said that he supports some rules.

"I didn't ask you about rules, I asked you whether the company, TikTok, would commit to not selling its data to anyone," Pallone responded. Chew said he would "get back to [Pallone] on the details of that."

The CEO said the company's priorities are to protect and secure user data. Despite that, dozens of states have already banned or restricted TikTok on government devices. The White House has given the company an ultimatum: Sell the app or face a total ban in the U.S.


If you or someone you know needs help, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988, call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741 anytime.

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