ATLANTA — Georgia joined an investigation involving a number of other states into the social media platform TikTok's alleged "harmful effects for young users."
According to a release from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, the investigation is specifically looking into "whether the company put the public at risk by violating state consumer protection laws."
The investigation, which with Georgia includes 43 other states, "will include a thorough review of the harmful effects for young users and whether TikTok had knowledge of such harms," according to Carr's release.
"Among other areas, the investigation will focus on the techniques used by TikTok to boost young user engagement, including increasing the duration of time spent on the platform and frequency of engagement with the platform," the attorney general's office said.
The investigation was originally launched with a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont, according to Carr.
“We will always stand up to protect Georgia’s children, and we will not tolerate those who put their health and well-being at risk,” the attorney general said in a statement. “Social media use and its harmful effects on young people is a serious issue that must be addressed with safety as the only priority. While TikTok chooses to target our youngest residents with enhanced marketing tactics, we will continue working with our fellow attorneys general to review all available information and keep our children safe.”