VIDEO: TikTok sued for failing to remove dangerous content

STEPHANIE MISTRE:  So we arrive in Marie’s room. I didn’t touch anything. Everything is the same. She was a very happy girl. She was a dancer. She was a dancer, a classic dancer. She was singing, she was making theatres. 

KATHRYN DISS, REPORTER: Stephanie Mistre won’t ever come to terms with the loss of her 15-year-old daughter Marie. 

STEPHANIE MISTRE: Here we were living in Paris. It's near the Louvre. It is like Marilyn Monroe, you know, with the wind which was coming like this. She loved this picture. We closed the door for two years. I couldn’t come in the room.

KATHRYN DISS:  In 2021 Marie took her own life at their home in France’s south. 

STEPHANIE MISTRE (subtitled):  Marie was our ray of sunshine. She was the life of the party, a force of nature. 

KATHRYN DISS:  Before her death, she’d been flooded with content promoting self-harm, eating disorders and suicide on social media platform, TikTok.

STEPHANIE MISTRE (subtitled):  TikTok is not just a host, it chooses, it selects and it prioritises the content that our children see and that's what makes it serious. 

KATHRYN DISS:  The Mistre’s are one of seven families in France suing the company in a landmark class action alleging their children were exposed to harmful content on TikTok.

Two of the teenage girls took their own lives. 

LAURE BUTRON-MARMION, CLASS ACTION LAWYER (subtitled):  We brought this legal action so that the judges recognise the responsibility of this application and therefore of this company in deteriorating the health of these young girls. 

STEPHANIE MISTRE (subtitled):  What I hope will be imposed on them is the regulation of their content. So, they block the application until fifteen or sixteen years old, like in Australia, and after that they moderate. 

KATHRYN DISS:  The case has prompted the French government to act.

It is now considering following in Australia’s footsteps with parliament debating a potential social media ban for children under 15.

Australia has just banned social media for children under the age of 16. Did the French government take inspiration? 

LAURE MILLER, DEPUTY OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY:  Yes. Oui. 

KATHRYN DISS:  Laure Miller drafted the bill, which is now before the senate for final sign off. 

LAURE MILLER (subtitled): I think that this law, like the Australian law, like other, may allow us to change this balance of power, which today is extremely unbalanced between families who feel a bit helpless and deprived of power over the ability to act on the daily lives of their children, and large platforms that spend billions of dollars both on the power of their algorithms but also by employing neuroscientists to perfect their attention-capturing systems. 

KATHRYN DISS:  If a ban is introduced it’ll impact kids like Kanila. The 11-year-old feels conflicted about the idea.

KANILA:  I'm for, because as I mentioned there's a lot of online harassment and there are a lot of rumours. 

And I'm also against because it's very hard to let go of social media, knowing that we grew up with it. 

KATHRYN DISS: Fourteen-year-old Nassim spends five hours a day on social media.

NASSIM (subtitled):  I use social media a lot, it’s true, I even use it too much. 

As soon as I get onto social media, I have a hard time separating myself from it because it's a bit like a circle, like an infinite circle. 

KATHRYN DISS:  Like Kanila, he can see the benefits and drawbacks of a ban. 

NASSIM:  I find that, I’m rather for it because we use social media too much every time, like every day; instead of going out, instead of having fun, we use social media. 

And also, I’m against it because I find that it leaves young people with less freedom.

KATHRYN DISS:  France isn’t alone. Several other European countries and the United Kingdom are all also considering a ban in the wake of Australia. But it’s controversial and dividing opinion even between families who’ve paid the ultimate price.

IAN RUSSELL:  Bans have unintended consequences, they do cause people to migrate to other platforms. They remove people from peer support groups, 

It's also really hard to educate people on how to be safe online if you’ve banned them from using digital technology. 

KATHRYN DISS:  Ian Russell’s 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life at their London home in 2017.

A coronial inquest found social media contributed to her death. It was the first time such a conclusion had ever been delivered. 

IAN RUSSELL:  She saw at least 2,100 pieces of harmful content in the last six months of her life. it was the constant stream of these algorithmically recommended dark posts that were so disturbing. And in Molly’s case convinced her she was worthless and hopeless. 

KATHRYN DISS:  The inquest findings prompted the UK Government to introduce the Online Safety Act which includes measures such as fines and taking companies offline if they fail to block harmful content to underage users.

IAN RUSSELL:  It’s a beginning and it’s constantly going to have to be updated. But I think it’s the best way to go because it makes the companies change whereas something like a ban takes the heat off the companies, lets them off the hook and if it penalises anyone, it penalises young people.

KATHRYN DISS:  Here in the UK, five families are also suing TikTok alleging it failed to remove dangerous content that led to six teenage boys dying. 

They’ve filed a lawsuit against the company in the US state of Delaware.

IAN RUSSELL:  I think the legal action is long overdue. The platforms are hugely powerful. The money that they’ve got available to them and the influence means they’re more powerful than many nations. 

KATHRYN DISS:  TikTok declined to comment. 

LAURE BUTRON-MARMION: I’m really convinced that if we had some judicial precedent, it could be different. I only have one action but if you have one action in France and then one action in Italy, and then one action in Spain, it will be difficult for them to not to react.

KATHRYN DISS:  Marie’s mother Stephanie knows the fight she’s up against. She is just hoping the tide is finally turning against the social media giants. 

STEPHANIE MISTRE:  I don't know how they managed to make that my girl arrive at this end. It's not normal for any child and I don’t want that to happen to other child.