Social media, an ever-present entity since the early 2000s, is now facing pushback from the state of Mississippi.
At a meeting on Monday, Carroll County Board Attorney Kevin Horan proposed that the Board of Supervisors join in a lawsuit against the social media platform TikTok.
It would seem that Mississippi is not the only state to take action against social media platforms. Most recently, four U.S. Senators presented a bill that would restrict social media accounts to be used by children 13 or younger, according to an article about the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act by the National Public Radio (NPR). “The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would set the minimum age of social media users to 13. For teens between the ages of 13 and 18, parental consent would be required, and platforms would be banned from using algorithms to recommend content to those young users. Adults would have to create an account for their teens, providing a valid form of ID to become users on a platform, according to the bill,” the NPR article stated.
According to Horan, the state of Arkansas has participated in a similar lawsuit recently. The state of Arkansas “filed two lawsuits against TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance and a third lawsuit against Meta, which also owns Instagram, accusing the companies of violating the state’s deceptive trade practices act,” according to the Associated Press (AP).
Horan cited the exposure of inappropriate content to those under age and mental health concerns as the reasons for the state lawsuit.
For several years now, the Chinese-based social media platform has been under scrutiny due its algorithms and accusations of personal information being stolen. The company has faced several controversies, including a video released by an influencer in which the influencer begins by stating “Your parents messed up! It’s okay to say so! That’s why I made a Patreon, so that we could talk about it. So that we could connect in a way that has more privacy.” The influencer’s account links to a Patreon account which cites “expanded topics not seen on any other platform,” as one of the reasons to subscribe.
The video has since been taken down from the influencer’s page on TikTok which has almost 700,000 followers. In a series of videos dating back to at least 2021, the influencer has posted content that targets parents of children or teens who may be struggling with their gender identity. In one such video titled “Three Ways to Disrespect Your Elders” he highlights that those facing “narcissistic parents or bosses” should “play innocent, feel no guilt” and “limit contact” with their parents and other authority figures.
“This lawsuit is still in the investigative stage. We anticipate more litigations. I have been requested to serve as local counsel by Bossier & Associates, PLLC. Bossier & Associates, PLLC seeks to undertake the representation of School Districts in the State of Mississippi to address the Youth Mental Health Crisis and to hold Social Media Platforms accountable for the damages they have caused,” said Horan in a later interview.
Claude Fluker of Beat Four made the motion to join the litigation and Rickie Corley of Beat Five seconded the motion. There was no opposition.
In other board news:
• The board approved the hiring of Morgan McClain as the new Soil and Water Conservation Clerk effective May 5 with Fluker making the motion and Edward Dill Tucker of Beat Three seconding. There was no opposition.
• The board approved to make a low-bid purchase of a tank car for Beat Five with Corley making the motion and Fluker seconding.
• Tracy Robertson of Mississippi State University’s extension office in Carroll County requested that the county increased their budget for a new office assistant in the amount of $9,096 and Tucker made the motion with Fluker seconding. There was no opposition.
• The board approve the low-bid quote for the purchase of 60 new ballot bags requested by Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton. Corley made the motion and Fluker seconded. There was no opposition.
