Complaint File TikTok Smith Arroyo 7-1-22

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Electronically FILED by Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles on 06/30/2022 09:23 AM Sherri R.

Carter, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court, by S. Ruiz,Deputy Clerk


22STCV21355
Assigned for all purposes to: Spring Street Courthouse, Judicial Officer: Audra Mori

1 LAURA MARQUEZ-GARRETT, ESQ., CA Bar No. 221542


laura@socialmediavictims.org
2 SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER
821 Second Avenue, Suite 2100
3 Seattle, WA 98104

4 Telephone: (206) 741-4862


Facsimile: (206) 957-9549
5
KEVIN M. LOEW, ESQ., CA Bar No. 238080
6 kloew@waterskraus.com
WATERS, KRAUS & PAUL
7 222 N. Pacific Coast Hwy, Suite 1900
El Segundo, CA 90245
8
Tel: 310-414-8146
9 Fax: 310-414-8156

10 Attorneys for Plaintiffs

11

12 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA


13 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
14
CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, Case No.:
15 individually and as successor-in-interest to
LALANI WALTON, Deceased, and COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH
16 HERIBERTO ARROYO, individually and as AND SURVIVAL ACTION (STRICT
successor-in-interest to ARRIANI JAILEEN LIABILITY; NEGLIGENCE; AND
17 ARROYO, Deceased, and CHRISTAL VIOLATION OF THE CALIFORNIA
CONSUMER LEGAL REMEDIES ACT,
ARROYO, Individually, CAL. CIV. § 1750, et seq.)
18

19 Plaintiffs, JURY DEMAND


vs.
20
TIKTOK INC.;
21 BYTEDANCE INC.;
and DOES 1 - 100, INCLUSIVE.
22

23 Defendants.

24

25 //

26 //

27 //

28 //

COMPLAINT 1
1 COME NOW PLAINTIFFS CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, HERIBERTO ARROYO,

2 and CHRISTAL ARROYO and allege as follows:

3 In these digital public spaces, which are privately owned and tend to be run for profit,
4 there can be tension between what’s best for the technology company and what’s best
for the individual user or for society. Business models are often built around
5 maximizing user engagement as opposed to safeguarding users’ health and ensuring
that users engage with one another in safe and healthy ways. . . . Technology companies
6 must step up and take responsibility for creating a safe digital environment for children
and youth.
7

8 United States Surgeon General’s Advisory December 7, 2021


Plaintiffs Christina Arlington Smith and Heriberto Arroyo and Christal Arroyo bring this
9
action for wrongful death and survivorship against TikTok Inc. and ByteDance Inc. (collectively,
10
“TikTok”) for the death of eight-year-old Lalani Erika Walton and nine-year-old Arriani Jaileen
11
Arroyo.
12
I. INTRODUCTION
13
1. This product liability action seeks to hold TikTok responsible for causing the deaths of
14
Lalani Erika Walton and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo who both died of self-strangulation after being
15
presented with and encouraged to take the “TikTok Blackout Challenge” on Defendant’s social media
16
product.
17
2. TikTok’s algorithm served up to eight-year old Lalani and nine-year old Arriani the
18

19 viral and deadly TikTok Blackout Challenge. According to TikTok, its proprietary algorithm is “a

20 recommendation system that delivers content to each user that is likely to be of interest to that

21 particular user...each person’s feed is unique and tailored to that specific individual.” In other words,

22 TikTok has specifically curated and determined that these Blackout Challenge videos – videos

23 featuring users who purposefully strangulate themselves until losing consciousness – are appropriate

24 and fitting for small children.


3. TikTok has invested billions of dollars to intentionally design and develop its product
25

26 to encourage, enable, and push content to teens and children that Defendant knows to be problematic

27 and highly detrimental to its minor users’ mental health.

28 //

COMPLAINT 2
1 4. Plaintiffs bring claims of strict product liability based upon TikTok’s defective design

2 of its social media product that renders such product addictive and not reasonably safe for ordinary

3 consumers and minor users. It is technologically feasible for TikTok to design social media products

4 that prevent young users from being affirmatively directed to highly dangerous content such as the

5 Blackout Challenges with a negligible increase in production cost. In fact, on information and belief,

6 the Blackout Challenge currently cannot be found on TikTok’s social media product or, in fact,

7 anywhere online. It appears to have been removed from archiving providers, such as

8 www.wayback.archive.org, as well.

9 5. Plaintiffs also bring claims for strict liability based on TikTok’s failure to provide

10 adequate warnings to minor users and their parents that TikTok is addictive and directs vulnerable

11 users to highly dangerous and harmful challenges including but not limited to the Blackout Challenge.

12 The addictive quality of TikTok’s product and its tendency to direct young users to highly dangerous

13 challenges are unknown to minor users and their parents.

14 6. Plaintiffs also bring claims for common law negligence arising from TikTok’s

15 unreasonably dangerous social media product and their failure to warn of such dangers. TikTok knew,

16 or in the exercise or ordinary care should have known, that its social media product is addictive to

17 young users and directs them to highly dangerous content promoting self-harm yet failed to re-design

18 its product to ameliorate these harms or warn minor users and their parents of dangers arising out of

19 the foreseeable use of the TikTok product.

20 II. PARTIES

21 7. Plaintiff Christina Arlington Smith is the mother of Lalani Erika Walton who died on

22 July 15, 2021, and is the successor-in-interest to her estate.

23 8. Christina Arlington has not entered into a User Agreement or other contractual

24 relationship with TikTok herein in connection with Lalani Walton’s use of Defendants’ social media

25 product. Plaintiff is not bound by any arbitration, forum selection, choice of law, or class action waiver

26 set forth in said User Agreements. Additionally, as successor-in-interest to the Estate of Lalani Walton,

27 Plaintiff expressly disaffirms any and all User Agreements with TikTok into which Lalani may have

28 entered.

COMPLAINT 3
1 9. Plaintiff Heriberto Arroyo is the father of Arriani Jaileen Arroyo who died on February

2 26, 2021, and is the successor-in-interest to her estate.

3 10. Heriberto Arroyo has not entered into a User Agreement or other contractual

4 relationship with TikTok herein in connection with Arriani Jaileen Arroyo’s use of Defendants’ social

5 media product. Plaintiff is not bound by any arbitration, forum selection, choice of law, or class action

6 waiver set forth in said User Agreements. Additionally, as successor-in-interest to the Estate of Arriani

7 Jaileen Arroyo, Plaintiff expressly disaffirms any and all User Agreements with TikTok into which

8 Arriani may have entered.

9 11. Christal Arroyo is the mother of Arriani Jaileen Arroyo who died on February 26, 2021.

10 12. Christal Arroyo has not entered into a User Agreement or other contractual

11 relationship with TikTok herein in connection with Arriani Jaileen Arroyo’s use of Defendants’

12 social medial product. Plaintiff is not bound by any arbitration, forum selection, choice of law, or

13 class action waiver set forth in said User Agreements.

14 13. Defendant TikTok Inc. is a California corporation with its principal place of business

15 in Culver City, CA. Defendant TikTok owns and operates the TikTok social media platform, an

16 application that is widely marketed by TikTok and available to users throughout the United States.

17 14. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant TikTok Inc. was acting by and through its

18 employees, servants, agents, workmen, and/or staff, all of whom were acting within the course and

19 scope of their employment, for and on behalf of TikTok Inc.

20 15. Defendant ByteDance Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of

21 business in Mountain View, CA. Defendant ByteDance owns TikTok Inc., and owns/operates the

22 TikTok social media platform.

23 16. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant ByteDance Inc. was acting by and through its

24 employees, servants, agents, workmen, and/or staff, all of whom were acting within the course and

25 scope of their employment, for and on behalf of ByteDance Inc.

26 17. TikTok is highly integrated with its Chinese parent, ByteDance. TikTok’s engineering

27 manager works on both TikTok and ByteDance’s similar Chinese app, Douyin. TikTok’s development

28 processes are closely intertwined with Douyin’s processes. TikTok employees are also deeply

COMPLAINT 4
1 interwoven into ByteDance’s ecosystem. They use a ByteDance product called Lark, a corporate

2 internal communications system like Slack but with aggressive performance-management features

3 aimed at forcing employees to use the system more.

4 III. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

5 18. This Court has general jurisdiction over Defendants because TikTok Inc. and

6 ByteDance Inc. have their principal places of business in California and are “at home” in this State.

7 19. Venue is proper in this Los Angeles County because TikTok is headquartered here.

8 IV. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

9 A. TikTok’s Applications Are Products

10 20. TikTok is a video sharing social media application where users create, share, and view

11 short video clips. TikTok exclusively controls and operates the TikTok platform for profit, which

12 creates advertising revenue through maximizing the amount of time users spend on the platform and

13 their level of engagement. The greater the amount of time that young users spend on TikTok, the

14 greater the advertising revenue TikTok earns.

15 21. Users on TikTok who open the TikTok application are automatically shown an endless

16 stream of videos selected by an algorithm developed by TikTok to show content on each user’s For

17 You Page (“FYP”) based upon each user’s demographics, likes, and prior activity on the app. In

18 addition, TikTok’s algorithm uses individualized user data and demographic information gleaned from

19 third party sources and statistical data, as well as other data points collected by TikTok, in directing

20 users to particular content.

21 22. TikTok is a social media product designed to be used by children and actively marketed

22 to children across the United States including in the State of California. Further, TikTok is aware that

23 large numbers of children under the age of 13 use its product despite user terms or “community

24 standards” that purport to restrict use to individuals who are 13 and older.

25 23. In fact, this product is designed to be used by minors and is actively marketed to minors

26 across the United States. TikTok markets to minors through its own marketing efforts and design. But

27 also, TikTok works with and actively encourages advertisers to create ads targeted at and appealing to

28 teens, and even to children under the age of 13. TikTok spends millions researching, analyzing, and

COMPLAINT 5
1 experimenting with young children to find ways to make its product more appealing and addictive to

2 these age groups, as these age groups are seen as the key to TikTok’s long-term profitability and

3 market dominance.

4 24. TikTok is aware that large numbers of children under the age of 18 use its product

5 without parental consent. It designs its product in a manner that allows and/or does not prevent such

6 use to increase user engagement and, thereby, its own profits.

7 25. TikTok is likewise aware that large numbers of children under the age of 13 use its

8 product despite user terms or “community standards” that purport to restrict use to individuals who

9 are 13 and older. It has designed its product in a manner that allows and/or does not prevent such use

10 to increase user engagement and, thereby, its own profits.

11 26. Moreover, even in instances where TikTok has actual and/or constructive knowledge

12 of underage users opening accounts, posting, and otherwise using its social media product, TikTok

13 fails to prevent and protect against such harmful and illegal use.

14 B. TikTok Designed its Product to be Addictive to Young Users

15 27. TikTok has designed its algorithms to addict users and cause them to spend as much

16 time on the application as possible through advanced analytics that create a variable reward system

17 tailored to user’s viewing habits and interests.

18 28. There are four main goals for TikTok’s algorithm: which the company translates as

19 “user value,” “long-term user value,” “creator value,” and “platform value.”

20 29. An internal TikTok document entitled “TikTok Algo 101” was created by TikTok’s

21 engineering team in Beijing and offers details about both the product’s mathematical core and insight

22 into the company’s understanding of human nature. The document explains frankly that in the pursuit

23 of the company’s “ultimate goal” of adding daily active users, TikTok has chosen to optimize for two

24 closely related metrics in the stream of videos it serves: “retention” — that is, whether a user comes

25 back — and “time spent.” The document offers a rough equation for how videos are scored, in which

26 a prediction driven by machine learning and actual user behavior are summed up for each of three bits

27 of data: likes, comments and playtime, as well as an indication that the video has been played.

28 //

COMPLAINT 6
1 30. A recent Wall Street Journal report revealed how TikTok relies heavily on how much

2 time users spend watching each video to steer them toward more videos that will keep them scrolling,

3 and that process can sometimes lead young viewers down dangerous rabbit holes, in particular, toward

4 content that promotes suicide or self-harm.

5 31. TikTok purports to have a minimum age requirement of 13-years-old but does little to

6 verify user’s age or enforce its age limitations despite having actual knowledge that use by underage

7 users is widespread. TikTok knows that hundreds of thousands of children as young as six years old

8 are currently using its social media product but undertakes no attempt to identify such users and

9 terminate their usage. On information and belief, the reason TikTok has not sought to limit usage of

10 its social media product by young children is because it would diminish the advertising revenue

11 TikTok earns through such users. TikTok also does not seek parental consent for underage users or

12 provide any warnings or controls that would allow parents to monitor and limit the use of TikTok by

13 their children, despite TikTok’s own current Terms of Service claiming that users under the age of 18

14 require parental consent to use its product. TikTok could quickly and reasonably implement tools to

15 verify age and identity of its users but knows that doing so would result in the loss of millions of

16 current TikTok users—due to some being under the age of 13 and others not having parental consent.

17 32. Until mid 2021, TikTok by default made all users profiles “public,” meaning that

18 strangers, often adults, could view and message underage users of the TikTok app. This is an inherently

19 harmful product feature, particularly when combined with TikTok’s failure to enforce legal and self-

20 imposed age limitations, as it makes small children available to predatory TikTok users in a manner

21 that actively interferes with parental oversight and involvement and puts them in an inherently

22 vulnerable and dangerous position.

23 33. TikTok does not seek parental consent for underage users or provide any warnings or

24 controls that would allow parents to monitor and limit the use of TikTok by their children.

25 34. TikTok has developed images and memes to enact images for users to decorate the snap

26 pictures or videos they post. TikTok has also developed memes and other images for users to apply to

27 images they post on TikTok. TikTok also has acquired publication rights to music that its users can

28 incorporate in the pictures and videos they post on TikTok. When users incorporate images, memes

COMPLAINT 7
1 and music supplied by TikTok into their postings, TikTok becomes a co-publisher of such content. A

2 TikTok user who incorporates images, memes and musical content supplied by TikTok into their posts

3 is functionally equivalent to a novelist who incorporates illustrations into her story. TikTok can no

4 longer characterize the images, memes and musical content it supplies to its users as third-party content

5 as the novelist can disclaim responsibility for illustrations contained in her book.

6 35. TikTok has developed artificial intelligence technology that detects adult users of

7 TikTok who send sexually explicit content to children and receive sexually explicit images from

8 children. This technology furnishes TikTok with actual knowledge that a significant number of minor

9 TikTok users are solicited to send and actually do send sexually explicit photos and videos of

10 themselves to adult users in exchange for consideration in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1)–B.

11 C. TikTok’s Business Model is Based on Maximizing User Screen Time

12 36. TikTok advertises its product as “free,” because it does not charge users for

13 downloading or using the product. What many users do not know is that, in fact, TikTok makes its

14 astronomical profits by targeting advertisements and harmful content to young users and by finding

15 unique and increasingly dangerous ways to keep those young users hooked on its social media product.

16 TikTok receives revenue from advertisers who pay a premium to target advertisements to specific

17 demographic groups of TikTok users including, and specifically, users in California under the age of

18 18. TikTok also receives revenue from selling its users’ data, including data belonging to users under

19 the age of 13, to third parties.

20 37. The amount of revenue TikTok receives is based upon the amount of time and user

21 engagement on its platform, which directly correlates with the number of advertisements that can be

22 shown to each user.

23 38. TikTok is designed around a series of design features that do not add to the

24 communication and communication utility of the application, but instead seek to exploit users’

25 susceptibility to persuasive design and unlimited accumulation of unpredictable and uncertain

26 rewards, including “likes,” “followers” and “views.” In the hands of children, this design is

27 unreasonably dangerous to the mental well-being of underage user’s developing minds.

28 //

COMPLAINT 8
1 39. According to industry insiders, TikTok has employed thousands of engineers to help

2 make the TikTok product maximally addicting. For example, TikTok’s “pull to refresh” is based on

3 how slot machines operate. It creates an endless feed, designed to manipulate brain chemistry and to

4 prevent natural end points that would otherwise encourage users to move on to other activities.

5 40. TikTok does not warn users of the addictive design of the TikTok product. On the

6 contrary, TikTok actively tries to conceal the dangerous and addictive nature of its product, lulling

7 users and parents into a false sense of security. This includes consistently playing down its product’s

8 negative effects on teens in public statements and advertising, making false or materially misleading

9 statements concerning product safety, marketing TikTok as a family application that is fun and safe

10 for all ages, and refusing to make its research public or available to academics or lawmakers who have

11 asked for it.

12 41. TikTok product managers and designers attend and even present at an annual

13 conference held in Silicon Valley called the Habit Summit, the primary purpose of which is to learn

14 how to make products more habit forming.

15 42. TikTok engineers its social media product to keep users, and particularly young users,

16 engaged longer and coming back for more. This is referred to as “engineered addiction,” and examples

17 include features like bottomless scrolling, tagging, notifications, and live stories.

18 D. TikTok Has Designed Complex Algorithms to Addict Young Users

19 43. TikTok has intentionally designed its product to maximize users’ ‘screen time, using

20 complex algorithms designed to exploit human psychology and driven by the most advanced computer

21 algorithms and artificial intelligence available to two of the largest technology companies in the

22 world.”

23 44. TikTok has designed and progressively modified its product to promote excessive use

24 that it knows is indicative of addictive and problematic use.

25 45. One of these features present in TikTok is the use of complex algorithms to select and

26 promote content that is provided to users in an unlimited and never ending “feed.” TikTok is well-

27 aware that algorithm-controlled feeds promote unlimited “scrolling”—a type of use that studies have

28 identified as detrimental to users’ mental health – however, TikTok maintains this harmful product

COMPLAINT 9
1 feature as it allows TikTok to display more advertisements and, thus, obtain more revenue.

2 46. TikTok has also designed its algorithm-controlled feeds to promote content most likely

3 to increase user engagement, which often means content that TikTok knows to be harmful to their

4 users. This is content that users might otherwise never see but for TikTok affirmative pushing such

5 content to their accounts.

6 47. The addictive nature of TikTok’s product and the complex and psychologically

7 manipulative design of its algorithms is unknown to ordinary users.

8 48. TikTok goes to significant lengths to prevent transparency, including posing as a “free”

9 social media platform, burying advertisements in personalized content, and making public statements

10 about the safety of the TikTok product that simply are not true.

11 49. TikTok also has developed unique product features designed to limit and has in other

12 ways limited parents’ ability to monitor and prevent problematic use by their children.

13 50. The algorithms that render TikTok’s social product addictive are designed to be content

14 neutral. They adapt to the social media activity of individual users to promote whatever content will

15 trigger a particular user’s interest and maximize their screen time. TikTok’s algorithm designs do not

16 distinguish, rank, discriminate or prioritize between particular types of content on their social media

17 platforms. If User One is triggered by elephants and User Two is triggered by moonbeams, TikTok’s

18 algorithm design will promote elephant content to User One and moonbeam content to User Two.

19 TikTok’s above-described algorithms are solely quantitative devices and make no qualitative

20 distinctions between the nature and type of content they promote to users.

21 E. Young Users’ Incomplete Brain Development Renders Them Particularly Susceptible to


Manipulative Algorithms with Diminished Capacity to Eschew Self- Destructive
22
Behaviors and Less Resiliency to Overcome Negative Social Media Influences
23

24 51. The human brain is still developing during adolescence in ways consistent with

25 adolescents’ demonstrated psychosocial immaturity. Specifically, adolescents’ brains are not yet fully

26 developed in regions related to risk evaluation, emotional regulation, and impulse control.

27 52. The frontal lobes - and in particular the prefrontal cortex - of the brain play an essential

28 part in higher-order cognitive functions, impulse control and executive decision- making. These

COMPLAINT 10
1 regions of the brain are central to the process of planning and decision-making, including the

2 evaluation of future consequences and the weighing of risk and reward. They are also essential to the

3 ability to control emotions and inhibit impulses. MRI studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex is

4 one of the last regions of the brain to mature.

5 53. During childhood and adolescence, the brain is maturing in at least two major ways.

6 First, the brain undergoes myelination, the process through which the neural pathways connecting

7 different parts of the brain become insulated with white fatty tissue called myelin. Second, during

8 childhood and adolescence, the brain is undergoing “pruning” - the paring away of unused synapses,

9 leading to more efficient neural connections. Through myelination and pruning, the brain’s frontal

10 lobes change to help the brain work faster and more efficiently, improving the “executive” functions

11 of the frontal lobes, including impulse control and risk evaluation. This shift in the brain’s composition

12 continues throughout adolescence and continues into young adulthood.

13 54. In late adolescence, important aspects of brain maturation remain incomplete,

14 particularly those involving the brain’s executive functions and the coordinated activity of regions

15 involved in emotion and cognition. As such, the part of the brain that is critical for control of impulses

16 and emotions and mature, considered decision-making is still developing during adolescence,

17 consistent with the demonstrated behavioral and psychosocial immaturity of juveniles.

18 55. The algorithms in TikTok’s social media product exploit minor users’ diminished

19 decision-making capacity, impulse control, emotional maturity, and psychological resiliency caused

20 by users’ incomplete brain development. TikTok knows, or in the exercise of reasonable care should

21 know, that because its minor users’ frontal lobes are not fully developed, such users are much more

22 likely to sustain serious physical and psychological harm through their social media use than adult

23 users. Nevertheless, TikTok has failed to design the TikTok product with any protections to account

24 for and ameliorate the psychosocial immaturity of its minor users.

25 F. TikTok Misrepresents the Addictive Design and Effects of its Social Media Product

26 56. During the relevant time period, TikTok stated in public comments that the TikTok

27 product is not addictive and was not designed to be addictive. TikTok knew or should have known

28 that those statements were untrue.

COMPLAINT 11
1 57. TikTok did not warn users or their parents of the addictive and mentally harmful effects

2 that the use of its product was known to cause amongst minor users, like Lalani Walton and Arriani

3 Arroyo. On the contrary, TikTok has gone to significant lengths to conceal and/or avoid disclosure as

4 to the true nature of the TikTok social media product.

5 G. TikTok Promotes “TikTok Challenges” to Young Users and Knowingly Directs Them to

6 Dangerous Content

7 58. TikTok also features and promotes various “challenges” where users film themselves

8 engaging in behavior that mimics and “one ups” other users posting videos related to a particular

9 challenge. TikTok promotes users creating and posting videos of challenges identified by a system of

10 hashtags that are promoted within TikTok’s search feature.

11 59. At all times relevant, TikTok’s algorithm was designed to promote “TikTok

12 Challenges” to young users to increase their engagement and maximize TikTok’s profits. TikTok

13 “challenges” involve users filming themselves engaging in behavior that mimics and often times “one-

14 ups” other users posting videos performing the same or similar conduct. These TikTok “challenges”

15 routinely involve dangerous or risky conduct. TikTok’s algorithm presents these often-dangerous

16 “challenges” to users on their FYP and encourages users to create, share, and participate in the

17 “challenge.”

18 60. There have been numerous dangerous TikTok challenges that TikTok’s app and

19 algorithm have caused to spread rapidly, which promote dangerous behavior, including:
• Fire Mirror Challenge – involves participants spraying shapes on their mirror with a
20
flammable liquid and then setting fire to it.
21 • Orbeez Shooting Challenge – involves participants shooting random strangers with tiny
water-absorbent polymer beads using gel blaster guns.
22 • Milk Crate Challenge – involves participants stacking a mountain of milk crates and
attempting to ascend and descend the unstable structure without falling.
23
• Penny Challenge – involves sliding a penny behind a partially plugged-in phone
24 charger.
• Benadryl Challenge – involves consuming a dangerous amount of Benadryl in order to
25 achieve hallucinogenic effects.
• Skull Breaker Challenge – involves users jumping in the air while friends kick their feet
26 out from underneath them, causing the users to flip in the air and fall back on their
27 head.
• Cha-Cha Slide Challenge – involves users swerving their vehicles all over the road to
28 the famous song by the same name.

COMPLAINT 12
• Dry Scoop Challenge – involves users ingesting a heaping scoop of undiluted
1
supplemental energy powder.
2 • Nyquil Chicken Challenge – involves soaking chicken breast in cough medicine like
Nyquil and cooking it, boiling off the water and alcohol in it and leaving the chicken
3 saturated with a highly concentrated amount of drugs in the meat.
• Tooth Filing Challenge – involves users filing down their teeth with a nail file.
4
• Face Wax Challenge – involves users covering their entire face, including their eyes,
5 with hot wax before ripping it off.
• Coronavirus Challenge – involves users licking random items and surfaces in public
6 during the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• Scalp Popping Challenge – involves users twisting a piece of hair on the crown of
7 someone's head around their fingers and pulling upward, creating a “popping” effect on
8 their scalp.
• Nutmeg Challenge – involves users consuming dangerously large amounts of nutmeg
9 with the aim of achieving an intoxicating high.
• Throw it in the Air Challenge – involves users standing in a circle looking down at a
10 cellphone on the ground as someone throws an object into the air, and the goal is to not
flinch as you watch the object fall on one of the participant’s heads.
11
• Corn Cob Challenge – involves users attaching a corn cob to a power drill and
12 attempting to each the corn as it spins.
• Gorilla Glue Challenge – involves users using a strong adhesive to stick objects to
13 themselves.
• Kiki Challenge – involves users getting out of moving vehicles to dance alongside in
14
the roadway.
15 • Salt and Ice Challenge – involves users putting salt on their skin and then holding an
ice cube on the spot for as long as possible, creating a chemical reaction that causes
16 pain and can lead to burns.
• Snorting Challenge – involves users snorting an entire latex condom into their nose
17 before pulling it out of their mouth.
18 • Hot Water Challenge – involves users pouring boiling hot water on someone else.
• Fire Challenge – involves users dousing themselves in a flammable liquid and then
19 lighting themselves on fire
20 H. TikTok Had Actual Knowledge that Children Were Dying From its Blackout Challenge
Yet Failed to Redesign its Algorithm to Prevent Such Deaths
21

22 61. The deadliest “TikTok Challenge” being promoted by TikTok’s algorithm is the
23 “TikTok Blackout Challenge,” which encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings,

24 or anything similar until passing out. Tragically, Lalani Walton and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo are just the

25 latest in a growing list of children killed because of TikTok’s algorithm and promotion of the Blackout

26 Challenge to kids.

27 62. On January 21, 2021, a 10-year-old girl in Italy died after TikTok’s app and algorithm
28 recommended the Blackout Challenge to her vis-à-vis her FYP. According to Italian news reports,

COMPLAINT 13
1 after the young girl saw the Blackout Challenge on her TikTok app, she tied a belt around her neck

2 and choked herself, causing her to go into cardiac arrest. She was rushed to the hospital but was

3 declared braindead upon arrival and ultimately died.

4 63. TikTok had knowledge of this death and its connection to TikTok’s promulgation of

5 the Blackout Challenge sometime after the death but before the deaths of Lalani and Arriani, and

6 several other children, and failed to take reasonable and appropriate steps to fix its social media

7 product, including by verification of age and identity of users, by blocking or removal of the TikTok

8 Blackout Challenge videos from its social media product, or even by removing the TikTok Blackout

9 Challenge from content promoted or recommended by TikTok’s algorithms to its users.

10 64. On March 22, 2021, a 12-year-old boy, Joshua Haileyesus, died after attempting the

11 Blackout Challenge that TikTok’s app and algorithm recommended to him through his FYP. Joshua

12 was discovered breathless and unconscious by his twin brother and ultimately died after 19 days on

13 life support. Joshua attempted the Blackout Challenge by choking himself with a shoelace.

14 65. On June 14, 2021, a 14-year-old boy died in Australia while attempting to take part in

15 TikTok’s Blackout Challenge after TikTok’s app and algorithm presented the deadly challenge to him

16 through his FYP.

17 66. In July 2021, a 12-year-old boy died in Oklahoma while attempting the Blackout

18 Challenge after TikTok’s app and algorithm recommended the dangerous and deadly video to him

19 through his FYP.

20 67. In December 2021, a 10-year-old girl, Nyla Anderson died in Pennsylvania after

21 attempting the Blackout Challenge that the TikTok’s algorithm recommended to her through her FYP.

22 Nyla attempted the Blackout Challenge by using a purse strap.

23 68. TikTok unquestionably knew that the deadly Blackout Challenge was spreading

24 through their app and that their algorithm was specifically feeding the Blackout Challenge to children,

25 including those who have died.

26 69. TikTok knew or should have known that failing to take immediate and significant

27 action to extinguish the spread of the deadly Blackout Challenge would result in more injuries and

28 deaths, especially among children, because of these young users attempting the viral challenge.

COMPLAINT 14
1 70. TikTok knew or should have known that its product was dangerously defective and in

2 need of immediate and significant change to prevent users, especially children, from being directed to

3 dangerous challenges that were known to have killed children and, even if not known, where such

4 deaths were reasonably foreseeable based on the inherently dangerous and defective nature of

5 TikTok’s product.

6 71. TikTok knew or should have known that a failure to take immediate and significant

7 corrective action would result in an unreasonable and unacceptable risk that additional users, and

8 additional children, would fall victim to the deadly Blackout Challenge.

9 72. Despite this knowledge, TikTok outrageously took no and/or completely inadequate

10 action to extinguish and prevent the spread of the Blackout Challenge and specifically to prevent its

11 algorithm from directing children to the Blackout Challenge, despite notice and/or foreseeability that

12 such a failure would inevitably lead to more injuries and deaths, including those of children.

13 73. Despite this knowledge, TikTok outrageously failed to change, update, and/or correct

14 its algorithm to prevent it from directing users, specifically children, with the dangerous and deadly

15 Blackout Challenge despite knowing that such a failure would inevitably lead to more injuries and

16 deaths, including those of children.

17 74. TikTok failed or refused to take the necessary corrective action to cure its defective

18 algorithm because TikTok knew that such fixes would result in less user engagement and, thus, less

19 profits.

20 75. TikTok prioritized greater corporate profits over the health and safety of its users and,

21 specifically, over the health and safety of vulnerable children TikTok knew or should have known

22 were actively using its social media product.

23 I. Plaintiffs Expressly Disclaim Any and All Claims Seeking to Hold TikTok Liable as the
Publisher or Speaker of Any Content Provided, Posted or Created by Third Parties
24
76. Plaintiffs seek to hold TikTok accountable for their own alleged acts and omissions.
25
Plaintiffs’ claims arise from TikTok’s status as designers and marketers of a dangerously defective
26
social media product, as well as TikTok’s own statements and actions, and are not based on TikTok
27
as the speaker or publisher of third-party content.
28

COMPLAINT 15
1 77. TikTok also failed to warn minor users and their parents of known dangers arising from

2 anticipated use of its social media platform in general and the Blackout Challenge in particular. These

3 dangers, which are unknown to ordinary consumers, do not arise from third-party content contained

4 on the TikTok social media product, but rather, from TikTok’s algorithm designs that 1) addict minor

5 users to the TikTok product; 2) affirmatively select and promote harmful content to vulnerable users

6 based on their individualized demographic data and social media activity; and 3) put minor users in

7 contact with dangerous adult predators.

8 78. TikTok’s product is addictive on a content neutral basis. For example, TikTok designs

9 and operates its algorithms in a manner intended to and that does change behavior and addict users,

10 including through a natural selection process that does not depend on or require any specific type of

11 third-party content.

12 79. TikTok’s product features are designed to be and are addictive and harmful in

13 themselves, without regard to any content that may exist on TikTok’s platform, for example, TikTok’s

14 “like” feature.

15 80. TikTok has designed other product features for the purpose of encouraging and

16 assisting children in evasion of parental oversight, protection, and consent, which features are wholly

17 unnecessary to the operation of TikTok’s product.

18 81. TikTok has information and knowledge that can determine with reasonably certainty

19 each user’s age, habits, and other personal information, regardless of what information the user

20 provides at the time of account setup. In other words, TikTok knows when a user claims to be 21 but

21 is really 12 and, likewise, it knows when a user claims to be 13 but is really 31.

22 82. In short, none of Plaintiffs’ claims rely on treating TikTok as the publisher or speaker

23 of any third party’s words or content. Plaintiffs’ claims seek to hold TikTok accountable for TikTok’s

24 own allegedly wrongful acts and omissions, not for the speech of others or for TikTok’s good faith

25 attempts to restrict access to objectionable content.

26 83. Plaintiffs are not alleging that TikTok is liable for what third parties said or did, but for

27 what TikTok did or did not do.

28 //

COMPLAINT 16
1 84. None of Plaintiffs’ claims set forth herein treat TikTok as the speaker or publisher of

2 content posted by third parties. Rather, Plaintiffs seek to hold TikTok liable for its own speech and its

3 own silence in failing to warn of foreseeable dangers arising from anticipate use of its social media

4 product. TikTok could manifestly fulfill its legal duty to design a reasonably safe social product and

5 furnish adequate warnings of foreseeable dangers arising out of the use of TikTok’s product without

6 altering, deleting, or modifying the content of a single third-party post or communication.

7 V. PLAINTIFF-SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS

8 Lalani Erika Renee Walton (2013-2021)

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22
85. Lalani Erika Renee Walton was born on April 23, 2013. Lalani had a large, blended
23
family with many siblings.
24
86. Lalani was extremely sweet and outgoing. She loved dressing up as a princess and
25
playing with makeup. She enjoyed being the center of attention and didn’t shy away from the spotlight.
26
When she grew up, she wanted to be a famous rapper, like Cardi B.
27

28 //

COMPLAINT 17
1 87. Lalani got her first cellphone on her 8th birthday on April 23, 2021. Shortly thereafter

2 she downloaded TikTok. Parental controls were installed on Lalani’s TikTok account by Lalani’s

3 stepmother, Rashika Watson.

4 88. Lalani quickly became addicted to watching TikTok videos and posted many TikTok

5 videos of herself singing and dancing, in the hopes of becoming TikTok famous.

6 89. In 2020, Lalani was involved in a car accident in which one of her stepbrothers died

7 and in which Lalani was seriously injured. Following the accident, Lalani’s stepmother, Rashika,

8 struggled with the loss of her son so Lalani asked to spend a year living with Rashika.. Plaintiff agreed

9 and allowed Lalani to live with Rashika for a one year period, but maintained constant contact with

10 her. Often they would talk several times each day.

11 90. Unbeknownst to either Plaintiff or Rashika Walton, sometime in July of 2021,

12 TikTok’s algorithm directed Lalani to the “TikTok Blackout Challenge.” On or about July 13, 2021,

13 Lalani had some bruises on her neck but explained those away to her family as having fallen and

14 bumped herself on her bedframe. Neither Rashika nor Lalani’s siblings attributed those bruises to self-

15 harmful behavior. Likewise, upon information and belief and as was told to Rashika after Lalani’s

16 death, the daughter of one of Rashika’s neighbors was sent the “TikTok Blackout Challenge”

17 sometime in July of 2021. Luckily, in that instance, the mother found her daughter in the act of

18 performing the TikTok Blackout Challenge and made her stop immediately.

19 91. Lalani, Rashika, and Plaintiff Christina Arlington Smith were not so fortunate.

20 92. From July 14 to July 15, 2021, Lalani was with Rashika Walton and two of her step

21 siblings. Rashika was taking two of her children to stay with their grandparents. During the 20-hour

22 round trip, Lalani sat in the backseat watching TikTok videos. For most of that time, Rashika was

23 driving the car and could not see what Lalani was watching on TikTok but, even on the few occasions

24 where they pulled over and/or Rashika asked, Lalani appeared to be watching age-appropriate videos.

25 Plaintiff subsequently learned that Lalani had been watching the “TikTok Blackout Challenge” during

26 some, if not most, of that 20-hour drive.

27 93. When Rashika and Lalani returned to their home, Rashika told Lalani to clean up her

28 room and that they would then go swimming. Rashika was tired from the long trip and took a short

COMPLAINT 18
1 nap. When she awoke approximately an hour later, she walked upstairs to Lalani’s room and was

2 surprised to find the door closed. She walked in and found Lalani hanging from her bed with a rope

3 around her neck, and still warm to the touch. Rashika called a neighbor who cut Lalani down and

4 called 9-1-1. The last thing Rashika remembers before passing out was seeing the paramedics put

5 Lalani’s body into an ambulance.

6 94. Lalani was a happy child who never suffered from depression. Before taking the

7 “TikTok Blackout Challenge” she had laid out her bathing suit, expecting to go swimming when her

8 stepmom woke up. However, she was also under the belief that if she posted a video of herself doing
9 the Blackout Challenge, then she would become famous and so she decided to give it a try. Lalani was

10 eight years old at the time and did not appreciate or understand the dangerous nature of what TikTok

11 was encouraging her to do.

12 95. After Lalani’s death, the police took Lalani’s phone and tablet and informed Rashika

13 that Lalani did not commit suicide. The police officer showed Rashika videos of the Blackout

14 Challenge and said that Lalani had been watching the video on repeat and had been attempting the

15 challenge herself.

16 96. TikTok’s app and algorithm directed exceedingly and unacceptably dangerous

17 challenges and videos to Lalani’s FYP, thus encouraging her to engage and participate in the

18 challenges, directly causing and resulting in Lalani’s death.

19 97. This tragedy and the unimaginable suffering endured by Plaintiff and Lalani’s family

20 was entirely preventable had TikTok not ignored the health and safety of its users, particularly children

21 using its product, in an effort to rake in greater profits.

22 98. TikTok’s algorithm intentionally thrust an unacceptably dangerous video that TikTok

23 knew to be circulating on its platform in front of an impressionable 8-year-old girl.

24 99. TikTok tracks usage data and knew that Lalani watched the TikTok Blackout Challenge

25 not one time, but several times and possibly even over the span of several days.

26 100. As a proximate result of TikTok’s corrosive marketing practices and dangerously

27 defective algorithm, Lalani attempted the TikTok Blackout Challenge and died as a result.

28 //

COMPLAINT 19
1 101. As a direct and proximate result of the TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product,

2 failure to warn, and negligence Lalani suffered serious, severe, disabling injuries including, but not

3 limited to her death resulting from asphyxiation by strangulation.

4 102. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

5 to warn, and negligence, which resulted in the death of Lalani Walton, Lalani’s beneficiaries have in

6 the past and will in the future continue to suffer great pecuniary loss, including, but not limited to, loss

7 of support, loss of aid, loss of services, loss of companionship, loss of consortium and comfort, loss

8 of counseling, and loss of guidance.

9 103. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

10 to warn, and negligence Plaintiff claims all damages suffered by the Estate of Lalani Walton and her

11 wrongful death beneficiaries by reason of the death of Lalani Walton, including, without limiting the

12 generality thereof, the following: the severe injuries to Lalani which resulted in her death; the anxiety,

13 horror, fear of impending death, mental disturbance, pain, suffering, and other intangible losses which

14 Lalani suffered prior to her death; the loss of future earning capacity suffered by Lalani from the date

15 of her death until the time in the future that she would have lived had she not died as a result of the

16 injuries she sustained; and the loss and total limitation and deprivation of her normal activities, pursuits

17 and pleasures from the date of her death until such time in the future as she would have lived had she

18 not died as a result of the injuries sustained by reason of TikTok’s carelessness, negligence, gross

19 negligence, recklessness, strict liability, failure to warn, and defective design.

20 104. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

21 to warn, and negligence, Plaintiff Christina Arlington Smith has been forced to suffer the death and

22 loss of her 8-year- old daughter, Lalani Walton.

23 //

24 //

25 //

26 //

27 //

28 //

COMPLAINT 20
1 Arriani Jaileen Arroyo (2011-2021)

10

11

12 105. Arriani Jaileen Arroyo was born on May 18, 2011, and lived with her parents Heriberto

13 and Christal Arroyo. She had a younger brother Edwardo, who was three years younger. Arriani was

14 an active child and enjoyed playing basketball, kickball, and riding her bicycle. She loved to dance

15 and was enrolled in a ballet class at school.

16 106. Arriani received a phone when she was seven and shortly thereafter downloaded

17 TikTok. She used TikTok multiple times a day, including watching videos of other people dancing

18 and singing and posting videos of herself dancing and singing. Arriani gradually became obsessive

19 about posting dance videos on TikTok, and become addicted to the TikTok product.

20 107. As her social media obsession increased, Arriani began receiving from TikTok and

21 trying TikTok Challenges. She would sometimes discuss these with her parents and because all of the

22 challenges they discussed involved eating and drinking challenges, which seemed harmless and not at

23 all dangerous, Arriani’s parents did not regard these activities as dangerous. They understood that

24 TikTok was a family oriented social media product, marketed to and safe for children to use.

25 108. On or about January 2021, Arriani told her mother Christina about a young girl in Italy

26 who died while attempting a social media challenge. Christina Arroyo told Arriani that she was never

27 to attempt such a thing, and Arriani indicated that she understood.

28 //

COMPLAINT 21
1 109. On February 26, 2021, Christina Arroyo was attending a church event. Heriberto

2 Arroyo was working on a project in the basement and Arriani and Edwardo were playing in Arriani’s

3 bedroom. Five-year-old Edwardo came downstairs and told his father that Arriani was not moving.

4 Heriberto Arroyo rushed upstairs and found Arriani hanging from the family dog’s leash, which she

5 had affixed to the door to her room.

6 110. Heriberto Arroyo called 9-1-1 and Arriani was rushed to Children’s Hospital where

7 physicians placed her on a ventilator and were able to restore her pulse. However, testing revealed that

8 Arriani had permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function and life support was

9 withdrawn.

10 111. TikTok’s product and its algorithm directed exceedingly and unacceptably dangerous

11 challenges and videos to Arriani’s FYP, thus encouraging Arriani to engage and participate in the

12 TikTok Blackout Challenge.

13 112. This tragedy and the unimaginable suffering endured by Arriani’s parents and younger

14 brother was entirely preventable, and would not have happened but for TikTok making a calculated

15 business decision to ignore the health and safety of its users, particularly young users, in an effort to

16 increase engagement and, thereby, its own profitability.

17 113. TikTok’s algorithm intentionally thrust an unacceptably dangerous video that TikTok

18 knew to be circulating on its platform in front of an impressionable 9-year-old girl.

19 114. As a proximate result of TikTok’s corrosive marketing practices and dangerously

20 defective algorithm, Arriani attempted the TikTok Blackout Challenge and died as a result.

21 115. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

22 to warn, and negligence Arriani suffered serious, severe, disabling injuries including, but not limited

23 to her death resulting from asphyxiation by strangulation.

24 116. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

25 to warn, and negligence which resulted in the death of Arriani Arroyo, her estate and her beneficiaries

26 have in the past and will in the future continue to suffer great pecuniary loss, including, but not limited

27 to, loss of support, loss of aid, loss of services, loss of companionship, loss of consortium and comfort,

28 loss of counseling, and loss of guidance.

COMPLAINT 22
1 117. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

2 to warn, and negligence Plaintiff claims all damages suffered by the Estate of Arriani Arroyo and her

3 wrongful death beneficiaries by reason of the death of Arriani Arroyo, including, without limiting the

4 generality thereof, the following: the severe injuries to Arriani which resulted in her death; the anxiety,

5 horror, fear of impending death, mental disturbance, pain, suffering, and other intangible losses which

6 Arriani suffered prior to her death; the loss of future earning capacity suffered by Arriani from the

7 date of her death until the time in the future that she would have lived had she not died as a result of

8 the injuries she sustained; and the loss and total limitation and deprivation of her normal activities,

9 pursuits and pleasures from the date of her death until such time in the future as she would have lived

10 had she not died as a result of the injuries sustained by reason of the TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous

11 product, negligence and failure to warn.

12 118. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s unreasonably dangerous product, failure

13 to warn and negligence Heriberto and Christal Arroyo, have been forced to suffer the death and loss

14 of their 9-year- old daughter, Arriani Arroyo.

15 VI. PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS

16 FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION - STRICT PRODUCT LIABILITY (Design Defect)

17 119. Plaintiffs reallege each and every allegation contained in paragraphs 1 through 116 as

18 if fully stated herein.

19 120. TikTok’s social media product is defective because the foreseeable risks of harm posed

20 by the product’s design could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative

21 design by TikTok and the omission of the alternative design renders the product not reasonably safe.

22 This defective condition rendered the product unreasonably dangerous to persons or property and

23 existed at the time the product left TikTok’s control, reached the user or consumer without substantial

24 change in the condition and its defective condition was a cause of Plaintiffs’ injuries.

25 121. TikTok designed, manufactured, marketed, and sold a social media product that was

26 unreasonably dangerous because it was designed to be addictive to the minor users to whom TikTok

27 actively marketed and because the foreseeable use of TikTok’s product causes mental and physical

28 harm to minor users.

COMPLAINT 23
1 122. TikTok’s product was unreasonably dangerous because it contained numerous design

2 characteristics that are not necessary for the utility provided to the user but are unreasonably dangerous

3 and implemented by TikTok solely to increase the profits derived from each additional user and the

4 length of time TikTok could keep each user dependent on their product.

5 123. At all times mentioned herein, TikTok’s product failed to perform as safely as an

6 ordinary consumer and/or ordinary user would expect when used in an intended or reasonably

7 foreseeable manner, and/or the risk of danger inherent in this product outweighed the benefits of said

8 product.

9 A. Inadequate Safeguards From Harmful and Exploitative Content

10 124. As designed, TikTok’s algorithms are not reasonably safe because they affirmatively

11 direct minor users to harmful and exploitative content, including but not limited to the TikTok

12 Blackout Challenge, while failing to deploy feasible safeguards to protect vulnerable children from

13 such harmful exposures. It is feasible to design an algorithm that substantially distinguishes between

14 harmful and innocuous content and protects minor users from being exposed to harmful content

15 without altering, modifying, or deleting any third-party content posted on TikTok’s social media

16 product. The cost of designing TikTok’s algorithms to incorporate this safeguard would be negligible

17 while the benefit would be high in terms of reducing the quantum of mental and physical harm

18 sustained by minor users and their families.

19 125. Defendants also engage in conduct, outside of the algorithms themselves, which is

20 designed to promote harmful and exploitative content as a means of increasing their revenue from

21 advertisements. This includes but is not limited to efforts to encourage advertisers to design ads that

22 appeal to children under the age of 13; and product design features intended to attract and engage

23 minor users to these virtual spaces where harmful ad content is then pushed to those users in a manner

24 intended to increase user engagement, thereby increasing revenue to TikTok at the direct cost of user

25 wellbeing.

26 126. Reasonable users (and their parents) would not expect that TikTok would knowingly

27 expose them to such harmful content and/or that TikTok’s product would direct them to harmful

28 content at all, much less in the manipulative and coercive manner that they do. TikTok has and

COMPLAINT 24
1 continues to knowingly use its algorithms on users in a manner designed to affirmatively change user

2 behavior, which methods are particularly effective on (and harmful to) TikTok’s youngest users, like

3 Lalani and Arriani.

4 127. Outrageously, TikTok knowingly exposes the public and innocent children, including

5 Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, to addiction, manipulation, and control causing them to promote,

6 engage, and participate in dangerous and deadly videos and challenges, including but not limited to

7 the Blackout Challenge, all in the name of greater corporate profits.

8 128. TikTok knew that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges, including but not

9 limited to the Blackout Challenge, were circulating via its social media product and was being

10 recommended to users by the TikTok’s algorithm, including through users’ FYP. But TikTok also

11 knew that these challenges, including its Blackout Challenge, were viral and wildly popular,

12 particularly among TikTok’s youngest users, and that TikTok’s continued promotion and

13 amplification of these challenges was making TikTok significant revenue – which is why TikTok

14 continued to promote and amplify this harmful content to its youngest users.

15 129. TikTok knew that children were dying from attempting to participate in dangerous and

16 deadly videos and challenges, including but not limited to the Blackout Challenge, that TikTok’s

17 algorithm was recommending to them through the children’s FYPs. TikTok knew of at least one such

18 death prior to the death of Lalani and prior to the death of Arriani.

19 B. Failure to Verify Minor Users’ Age and Identity

20 130. As designed, TikTok’s product is not reasonably safe because TikTok does not provide

21 for adequate age verification by requiring users to document and verify their age and identity.

22 131. Adults frequently set up user accounts on TikTok’s social media product posing as

23 minors to groom unsuspecting minors and to exchange sexually explicit content and images, which

24 frequently progresses to sexual exploitation and trafficking.

25 132. Minor users of social media and their parents do not reasonably expect that prurient

26 adults set up fraudulent accounts on Defendant’s social media product and pose as minors for malign

27 purposes.

28 //

COMPLAINT 25
1 133. Likewise, minor users who are under the age of 13 often open and/or access TikTok

2 accounts, and TikTok knows or has reason to know when a user is underage. TikTok already has the

3 information and means it needs to ascertain with reasonable certainty each user’s actual age and, at

4 least in some cases, TikTok utilizes these tools to investigate, assess, and report on percentages and

5 totals of underage users for internal assessment purposes. TikTok simply then chooses to do nothing

6 about that information as it relates to the specific, underaged users themselves.

7 134. TikTok employees have also reported that TikTok has actual knowledge of users under

8 the age of 13, including because it is clear from the videos they post of themselves that they are too

9 young to legally be using TikTok’s social media product. Despite such knowledge, TikTok often is

10 slow to act or does not act at all, in the interest of increased profits.

11 135. Moreover, reasonably accurate age and identity verification is not only feasible but

12 widely deployed by on-line retailers and internet service providers.

13 136. The cost of incorporating age and identify verification into TikTok’s product would be

14 negligible whereas the benefit of age and identity verification would be a substantial reduction in

15 severe mental health harms, sexual exploitation, and abuse among minor users of TikTok’s product.

16 C. Inadequate Parental Control and Monitoring

17 137. TikTok’s product is also defective for lack of parental controls, permission, and

18 monitoring capability available on many other devices and applications.

19 138. TikTok’s product is designed with specific product features intended to prevent and/or

20 interfere with parents’ reasonable and lawful exercise of parental control, permission, and monitoring

21 capability available on many other devices and applications.

22 D. Intentional Direction of Minor Users to Harmful and Exploitative Content

23 139. Default “recommendations” communicated to new child users, including Lalani

24 Walton and Arriani Arroyo, purposefully steered those users toward content TikTok knows to be

25 harmful to children of their age and gender.

26 140. Ad content pushed to new child users, including Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo,

27 because of their age and vulnerability, purposefully steer those users toward content TikTok knows to

28 be harmful to children of their age and gender.

COMPLAINT 26
1 E. Design of Addictive Social Media Products

2 141. As designed, TikTok’s social media product is addictive to child users as follows:

3 When minors use design features such as “likes” it cause their brains release dopamine which creates

4 short term euphoria. However, as soon as dopamine is released, minor users’ brains adapt by reducing

5 or “downregulating” the number of dopamine receptors that are stimulated and their euphoria is

6 countered by dejection. In normal stimulatory environments, this dejection abates, and neutrality is

7 restored. However, TikTok’s algorithms are designed to exploit users’ natural tendency to counteract

8 dejection by going back to the source of pleasure for another dose of euphoria. As this pattern

9 continues over a period of months and the neurological base line to trigger minor users’ dopamine

10 responses increases, they continue to use TikTok, not for enjoyment, but simply to feel normal. Once

11 they stop using TikTok, minor users experience the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any

12 addictive substance including anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and craving.

13 142. Addictive use of social media by minors is psychologically and neurologically

14 analogous to addiction to internet gaming disorder as described in the American Psychiatric

15 Association's 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which is used by

16 mental health professionals to diagnose mental disorders. Gaming addiction is a recognized mental

17 health disorder by the World Health Organization and International Classification of Diseases and is

18 functionally and psychologically equivalent to social media addition. The diagnostic symptoms of

19 social media addiction among minors are the same as the symptoms of addictive gaming promulgated

20 in DSM 5 and include:

21 143. Preoccupation with social media and withdrawal symptoms (sadness, anxiety,

22 irritability) when device is taken away or not possible (sadness, anxiety, irritability).

23 a. Tolerance, the need to spend more time using social media to satisfy the urge.

24 b. Inability to reduce social media usages, unsuccessful attempts to quit gaming.

25 c. Giving up other activities, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities due

26 to social media usage.

27 d. Continuing to use social media despite problems.

28

COMPLAINT 27
1 e. Deceiving family members or others about the amount of time spent on social

2 media.

3 f. The use of social media to relieve negative moods, such as guilt or hopelessness.

4 g. and Jeopardized school or work performance or relationships due to social

5 media usage.

6 144. TikTok’s advertising profit is directly tied to the amount of time that TikTok’s users

7 spend online, and TikTok’s algorithms and other product features are designed to maximize the time

8 users spend using the product by directing them to content that is progressively more and more

9 stimulative. TikTok enhances advertising revenue by maximizing users’ time online through a product

10 design that addicts them to the platform. However, reasonable minor users and their parents do not

11 expect that on-line social media platforms are psychologically and neurologically addictive.

12 145. It is feasible to make TikTok’s product less addictive to child users by limiting the

13 frequency and duration of access and suspending service during sleeping hours.

14 146. Designing software that limits the frequency and duration of child users’ screen use

15 and suspends service during sleeping hours could be accomplished at negligible cost; whereas the

16 benefit of minor users maintaining healthy sleep patterns would be a significant reduction in

17 depression, attempted and completed suicide and other forms self-harm among this vulnerable age

18 cohort.

19 F. Inadequate Notification of Parents of Dangerous and Problematic Social Media Usage by

20 Minor Users

21 147. TikTok’s product is not reasonably safe as designed because it does not include any

22 safeguards to notify users and their parents of usage that TikTok know to be problematic and likely to

23 cause negative mental health effects to users, including excessive passive use and use disruptive of

24 normal sleep patterns. This design is defective and unreasonable because:

25 148. It is reasonable for parents to expect that social media products that actively promote

26 their platform to minors will undertake reasonable efforts to notify parents when their child’s use

27 becomes excessive or occurs during sleep time. It is feasible for TikTok to design a product that

28 identifies a significant percentage of their minor users who are using the product more than three hours

COMPLAINT 28
1 per day or using it during sleeping hours at negligible cost.

2 149. TikTok’s product is not reasonably safe as designed because, despite numerous

3 reported instances of child sexual solicitation and exploitation by adult users, TikTok has not

4 undertaken reasonable design changes to protect underage users from this abuse, including notifying

5 parents of underage users when they have been messaged or solicited by an adult user or when a user

6 has sent inappropriate content to minor users. TikTok’s entire business is premised upon collecting

7 and analyzing user data and it is feasible to use TikTok’s data and algorithms to identify and restrict

8 improper sexual solicitation, exploitation, and abuse by adult users; and

9 150. It is reasonable for parents to expect that platforms such as TikTok, which actively

10 promotes its services to minors, will undertake reasonable efforts to identify users suffering from

11 mental injury, self-harm, or sexual abuse and implement technological safeguards to notify parents by

12 text, email, or other reasonable means that their child is in danger.

13 151. As a proximate result of these dangerous and defective design attributes of TikTok’s

14 product, Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo were killed. Plaintiffs did not know, and in the exercise of

15 reasonable diligence could not have known, of these defective designs in TikTok’s product until 2021.

16 152. As a result of TikTok’s negligence, Plaintiffs have suffered loss of consortium,

17 emotional distress, past and future medical expenses, and pain and suffering.

18 153. TikTok is further liable to Plaintiffs for punitive damages based upon the willful and

19 wanton design of the TikTok social media product that was intentionally marketed and sold to

20 underage users, whom they knew would be seriously harmed through the use of TikTok.

21 SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION – STRICT PRODUCT LIABILITY (Failure to Warn)

22 154. Plaintiffs reallege each and every allegation contained in paragraphs 1 through 151 as

23 if fully stated herein.

24 155. TikTok’s product is defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings because

25 the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the

26 provision of reasonable instructions or warnings by the manufacturer and the omission of the

27 instructions or warnings renders the product not reasonably safe. This defective condition rendered

28 the product unreasonably dangerous to persons or property, existed at the time the product left

COMPLAINT 29
1 TikTok’s control, reached the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which

2 it was sold and was a proximate cause of Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo’s deaths.

3 156. TikTok’s product is unreasonably dangerous and defective because it contains no

4 warning to users or parents regarding the addictive design and effects of TikTok.

5 157. TikTok’s social media product relies on highly complex and proprietary algorithms

6 that are both undisclosed and unfathomable to ordinary consumers who do not expect that social media

7 platforms are physically and/or psychologically addictive.

8 158. The magnitude of harm from addiction to TikTok’s product is horrific ranging from

9 simple diversion from academic, athletic, and face-to-face socialization to sleep loss, severe

10 depression, anxiety, self-harm, accidental death through the TikTok Blackout Challenge and suicide.

11 159. The harms resulting from minors’ addictive use of social media platforms have been

12 not only well- documented in the professional and scientific literature, but TikTok had actual

13 knowledge of such harms.

14 160. TikTok’s product is unreasonably dangerous because it lacks any warnings that

15 foreseeable product use can disrupt healthy sleep patterns or specific warnings to parents when their

16 child’s product usage exceeds healthy levels or occurs during sleep hours. Excessive screen time is

17 harmful to children’s mental health and sleep patterns and emotional well-being. Reasonable and

18 responsible parents are not able to accurately monitor their child’s screen time because most

19 adolescents own or can obtain access to mobile devices and engage in social media use outside their

20 parents’ presence.

21 161. It is feasible for TikTok’s product to report the frequency and duration of their minor

22 users’ screen time to their parents without disclosing the content of communications at negligible cost,

23 whereas parents’ ability to track the frequency, time and duration of their minor child’s social media

24 use are better situated to identify and address problems arising from such use and to better exercise

25 their rights and responsibilities as parents.

26 162. TikTok knew about these harms, knew that users and parents would not be able to

27 safely use the TikTok product without warnings, and failed to provide warnings that were adequate to

28 make the product reasonably safe during ordinary and foreseeable use by children.

COMPLAINT 30
1 163. As a proximate result of TikTok’s failure to warn, Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo

2 died.

3 164. As a result of TikTok’s failure to warn, Plaintiffs have suffered loss of consortium,

4 emotional distress, past and future medical expenses, and pain and suffering.

5 165. TikTok is further liable to Plaintiffs for punitive damages based upon TikTok’s willful

6 and wanton failure to warn of known dangers of the TikTok product, which was intentionally marketed

7 and sold to child users, whom TikTok knew would be seriously harmed through their use of the TikTok

8 social media product.

9 THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION – NEGLIGENCE

10 166. Plaintiffs reallege each and every allegation contained in paragraphs 1 through 163 as

11 if fully stated herein.

12 167. At all relevant times, TikTok had a duty to exercise reasonable care and caution for the

13 safety of individuals using their product, such as Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo.

14 168. TikTok owes a heightened duty of care to minor users of its social media product

15 because adolescents’ brains are not fully developed, which results in a diminished capacity to make

16 good decisions regarding their social media usages, eschew self-destructive behaviors, and overcome

17 emotional and psychological harm from negative and destructive social media encounters and much

18 more susceptible to dangerous TikTok Challenges including but not limited to the TikTok Blackout

19 Challenge.

20 169. As a product manufacturer marketing and selling products to residents of across the

21 United States, and including in California, TikTok owed a duty to exercise ordinary care in the

22 manufacture, marketing, and sale of its product, including a duty to warn minor users and their parents

23 of hazards that TikTok knew to be present, but not obvious, to underage users and their parents.

24 170. As a business owner, TikTok owes its users who visit TikTok’s social media platform

25 and from whom TikTok derives billions of dollars per year in advertising revenue a duty of ordinary

26 care substantially similar to that owed by physical business owners to their business invitees.

27 171. TikTok had a duty to monitor the videos and challenges shared, posted, and/or

28 circulated on its app and platform to ensure that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges were not

COMPLAINT 31
1 posted, shared, circulated, recommended, and/or encouraged. TikTok benefited directly and

2 substantially from its continued promotion and amplification of this harmful content, knew the content

3 was harmful, and knew it was benefiting in this manner.

4 172. TikTok had a duty to monitor and evaluate the performance of its algorithm and ensure

5 that it was not directing vulnerable children to dangerous and deadly videos and challenges, including

6 but not limited to the Blackout Challenge.

7 173. TikTok had a duty to employ and train personnel to appropriately and reasonably

8 respond to notice that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges were being posted, shared, and/or

9 circulated on TikTok’s app.

10 174. TikTok had a duty to design, develop, program, manufacture, distribute, sell, supply,

11 and/or operate its app and algorithms to ensure that it did not manipulate users and/or otherwise

12 encourage them to engage in dangerous and potentially deadly videos and challenges.

13 175. TikTok was negligent, grossly negligent, reckless and/or careless in that it failed to

14 exercise ordinary care and caution for the safety of underage users, like Lalani Walton and Arriani

15 Arroyo.

16 176. TikTok was negligent in failing to conduct adequate testing and failing to allow

17 independent academic researchers to adequately study the effects of its product and levels of

18 problematic use amongst child users. TikTok has extensive internal research and/or documents and

19 communications indicating that its product is harmful, causes extensive mental harm, and that minor

20 users are engaging in problematic and addictive use that their parents are helpless to monitor and

21 prevent.

22 177. TikTok is negligent in failing to provide adequate warnings about the dangers

23 associated with the use of its social media products and in failing to advise users and their parents

24 about how and when to safely use its social media platform and features.

25 178. TikTok is negligent in failing to fully assess, investigate, and restrict the use of TikTok

26 by adults to sexually solicit, abuse, manipulate, and exploit minor users of its TikTok product.

27 179. TikTok is negligent in failing to provide users and parents the tools to ensure that its

28 social media product is used in a limited and safe manner by underage users.

COMPLAINT 32
1 180. TikTok knew that dangerous and deadly videos and challenges, including but not

2 limited to the Blackout Challenge, were being promoted to users by its algorithms but failed to take

3 appropriate, reasonable, timely, and necessary remedial actions.

4 181. TikTok knew that children were dying from attempting to participate in dangerous and

5 deadly videos and challenges, including but not limited to the Blackout Challenge, that TikTok’s

6 algorithm was directing to them but failed to take appropriate, reasonable, timely, and necessary

7 remedial actions.

8 182. As a proximate result of TikTok’s negligence, Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo died.

9 183. As a proximate result of TikTok’s negligence, Plaintiffs Christina Arlington and

10 Heriberto Arroyo and Christal Arroyo have suffered loss of consortium, emotional distress, past and

11 future medical expenses, and pain and suffering.

12 184. TikTok is further liable to Plaintiffs for punitive damages based upon their willful and

13 wanton conduct toward underage users, including Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, whom it knew

14 would be seriously harmed through use of its social media product.

15 FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION – VIOLATION OF THE CALIFORNIA CONSUMER

16 LEGAL REMEDIES ACT, CAL. CIV. § 1750, et seq.

17 185. Plaintiffs reallege each and every allegation contained in paragraphs 1 through 182 as

18 if fully stated herein.

19 186. As corporations or other business entities headquartered in and operating out of the

20 State of California, TikTok and ByteDance (collectively, “TikTok”) were required to comply with the

21 California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civ. § 1750, et seq. 158. At all times relevant hereto,

22 TikTok intended and expected that its product would be marketed, sold, downloaded, and/or used in

23 the State of California.

24 187. TikTok designed, developed, programmed, manufactured, distributed, sold, supplied,

25 and/or operated its product for sale and use in the U.S., including California.

26 188. At all times relevant hereto, TikTok was a person within the meaning of Cal. Civ. Code

27 § 1761(c).

28 //

COMPLAINT 33
1 189. At all times relevant hereto, Lalani and Arriani were consumers within the meaning of

2 Cal. Civ. Code § 1761(d).

3 190. The California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civ. § 1770(a)(5); (7), provides in

4 pertinent part:

5 The following unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or


6 practices undertaken by any person in a transaction intended to result or that results
in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer are unlawful: Representing
7 that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses,
benefits, or quantities that they do not have or that a person has a sponsorship,
8 approval, status, affiliation, or connection that he or she does not have [...]
Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade, or
9
that goods are of a particular style or model, if they are another.
10
191. At all times relevant hereto, TikTok had both constructive and actual knowledge that
11
when TikTok’s products were used in a manner that was intended or directed by or reasonably
12
foreseeable to TikTok, and was known to or foreseen by TikTok, they were used by consumers,
13
including children, to engage in risky and dangerous activities that were promoted and disseminated
14
by TikTok’s product which sought to encourage such engagement and it was likely that significant
15
injuries, including death, would occur.
16
192. At all times relevant hereto, TikTok had both constructive and actual knowledge that
17
TikTok’s product and its algorithm were resulting in dangerous videos being shown to users, including
18
children, and that the app and algorithm were encouraging users to engage in risky and dangerous
19
activities that were likely to cause significant injuries, including death, despite these dangers being
20
concealed from said consumers and despite TikTok’s product being marketed and sold as safe.
21
193. From the first date on which TikTok placed its product the stream of commerce for use
22
in California through the date of Lalani Walton’s and Arriani Arroyo’s death, TikTok engaged in
23
unfair or deceptive acts or practices, in violation of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act,
24
including but not limited to deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation or the
25
concealment, suppression, or omission of material facts, in designing, developing, programming,
26
manufacturing, selling, marketing, supplying, and/or distributing TikTok’s product for use in
27
California and elsewhere in the U.S., in that TikTok:
28

COMPLAINT 34
1 a. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product was designed

2 and intended to addict users.

3 b. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product carried a risk

4 of addiction and dependence.

5 c. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product was designed

6 and intended to urge and/or compel users to spend as much time as possible on the

7 TikTok app.

8 d. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product would expose

9 users to videos and challenges which encouraged, promoted, and/or prompted

10 users, including children, to engage in risky and dangerous activities.

11 e. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product was not safe or

12 suitable for use by children.

13 f. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that the risk and dangerous videos

14 and challenges shown to users by TikTok’s product would result in severe injury

15 and/or death.

16 g. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product would reward

17 users for engaging in risky and dangerous activities.

18 h. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product, namely the

19 app’s algorithm, had not been adequately developed, refined, and/or tested to

20 ensure that dangerous and risky videos and challenges would not be disseminated

21 or promoted on the app or otherwise shown to users.

22 i. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s product, namely the

23 app’s algorithm, had not been adequately developed, refined, and/or tested to

24 ensure that children and other vulnerable users were not shown videos or challenges

25 which encouraged and/or prompted said users to engage in dangerous activities or

26 which otherwise created a system which rewarded users for engaging in said

27 dangerous activities; and

28

COMPLAINT 35
1 j. concealed, suppressed, or omitted to disclose that TikTok’s corporate profits

2 depended on user addiction and maximizing a user’s time spent on and engaging in

3 the TikTok’s product.

4 194. These acts and practices of TikTok and those with whom it was acting in concert in

5 designing, developing, programming, manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating

6 the TikTok product for sale and use in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., were unfair because they

7 offended public policy, were immoral, unethical, oppressive, and unscrupulous, and caused substantial

8 injury to consumers, including Plaintiffs’ decedents Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, their estates,

9 and their beneficiaries.

10 195. These acts and practices of TikTok in designing, developing, programming,

11 manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating the TikTok product for sale and use

12 in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., offended the clearly stated public policy of California.

13 196. These acts and practices of TikTok in designing, developing, programming,

14 manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating the TikTok product for sale and use

15 in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., were immoral and unethical, as they served only to financially

16 benefit TikTok at the expense of the health and safety of users of the TikTok’s product, including

17 Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo.

18 197. These acts and practices of TikTok in designing, developing, programming,

19 manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating the TikTok product for sale and use

20 in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., were likely to cause substantial injury and/or death to users,

21 including Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, by exposing and encouraging them to engage in activities

22 which posed unnecessary and unreasonable risks to their health and safety.

23 198. These acts and practices of TikTok in designing, developing, programming,

24 manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating the TikTok product for sale and use

25 in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., were likely to cause, and did cause, substantial injury and/or

26 death to users of TikTok’s product, including Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, in that but for these

27 acts and practices, TikTok’s product would not have been downloaded, purchased, and/or used and

28 persons who used them, including Lalani Walton, and Arriani Arroyo would not have been injured or

COMPLAINT 36
1 killed by said use.

2 199. These acts and practices of TikTok in designing, developing, programming,

3 manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating the TikTok product for sale and use

4 in California, and elsewhere in the U.S., were committed in conscious disregard of the safety of others

5 and its users, including Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo.

6 200. The injuries caused by TikTok’s acts and practices in designing, developing,

7 programming, manufacturing, distributing, selling, supplying, and/or operating their product for sale

8 and use in California, and elsewhere in the U.S.—namely, users’ injuries and damages (including

9 monetary losses)—are not outweighed by any countervailing benefit to consumers or competition.

10 201. TikTok intended that purchasers and/or users of their product use it in reliance on these

11 unfair and deceptive acts and practices.

12 202. The facts that TikTok concealed, suppressed, and/or omitted to disclose were material

13 to the decisions to use TikTok’s product, and Plaintiffs’ decedent would not have used said product

14 had these facts been disclosed.

15 203. TikTok’s unfair and deceptive acts and practices occurred in connection with their

16 conduct of trade and commerce in California, and elsewhere in the U.S.

17 204. TikTok’s unfair and deceptive acts and practices of TikTok violated the California

18 Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

19 205. TikTok committed these unfair and deceptive practices knowing they created a

20 substantial risk of harm to those who used TikTok’s product in California, and elsewhere in the U.S.

21 206. As a direct and proximate result of TikTok’s violations of the California Consumer

22 Legal Remedies Act, Plaintiffs’ decedent, Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, suffered grievous injury

23 and died and Lalani Walton and Arriani Arroyo, and their estate and their beneficiaries, suffered all of

24 the damages discussed and claimed herein.

25 //

26 //

27 //

28 //

COMPLAINT 37
1 PRAYER FOR RELIEF

2 WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs pray for judgment against Defendants, their “alternate entities”, and

3 each of them, in an amount to be proved at trial as follows:

4 Plaintiff CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, as successor-in-interest to LALANI

5 WALTON, Deceased:

6 1. For Decedent’s pecuniary loss and economic losses, including loss of income,

7 wages, support, and earning potential according to proof;

8 2. For Decedent’s pain and suffering according to proof;

9 3. For exemplary or punitive damages according to proof;

10 4. For Decedent’s medical and related expenses according to proof;

11 Plaintiff CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, Individually:

12 5. For Plaintiff’s general damages according to proof;

13 6. For funeral and burial expenses according to proof;

14 7. For Plaintiff’s damages for loss of love, companionship, comfort, affection,

15 solace, moral support and/or society according to proof;

16 Plaintiff CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, Individually and as successor-in-interest

17 to LALANI WALTON, Deceased:

18 8. For Plaintiff’s cost of suit herein; and

19 9. For such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper,

20 including costs and prejudgement interest as provided in C.C.P. section 998,

21 C.C.P. section 1032, and related provisions of law.

22 Plaintiff HERIBERTO ARROYO, as successor-in-interest to ARRIANI JAILEEN

23 ARROYO, Deceased:

24 10. For Decedent’s pecuniary loss and economic losses, including loss of income,

25 wages, support, and earning potential according to proof;

26 11. For Decedent’s pain and suffering according to proof;

27 12. For exemplary or punitive damages according to proof;

28 13. For Decedent’s medical and related expenses according to proof;

COMPLAINT 38
1 Plaintiff HERIBERTO ARROYO, and CHRISTAL ARROYO, Individually:

2 14. For Plaintiff’s general damages according to proof;

3 15. For funeral and burial expenses according to proof;

4 16. For Decedent’s medical and related expenses according to proof;

5 17. For Plaintiff’s damages for loss of love, companionship, comfort, affection,

6 solace, moral support and/or society according to proof;

7 Plaintiff HERIBERTO ARROYO, Individually and as successor-in-interest to

8 ARRIANI JAILEEN ARROYO, Deceased, and HERIBERTO ARROYO and CHRISTAL

9 ARROYO, Individually:

10 18. For Plaintiff’s cost of suit herein; and

11 19. For such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper,

12 including costs and prejudgement interest as provided in C.C.P. section 998,

13 C.C.P. section 1032, and related provisions of law.

14 Plaintiff CHRISTINA ARLINGTON SMITH, as successor-in-interest to LALANI

15 WALTON, Deceased and Plaintiff HERIBERTO ARROYO, Individually and as successor-in-

16 interest to ARRIANI JAILEEN ARROYO, Deceased, and CHRISTAL ARROYO Individually:

17 20. Injunctive relief, including but not limited to ordering TikTok to stop the

18 harmful conduct alleged herein, remedy the unreasonably dangerous

19 algorithms in their social media product and provide warnings to minor users

20 and their parents that TikTok’s social media product are addictive and pose a

21 clear and present danger to unsuspecting minors.

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

COMPLAINT 39
1 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

2 Plaintiffs hereby demand trial by jury as to all issues so triable.

3 DATED this 28th day of June 2022.


4
SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER PLLC
5
By: ____________________________________
6 Laura Marquez-Garrett (SBN 221542)
Laura@socialmediavictims.org
7
Matthew P. Bergman (Pro Hoc Vice anticipated)
8 matt@socialmediavictims.org
Glenn S. Draper (Pro Hoc Vice anticipated)
9 glenn@socialmediavictims.org
SOCIAL MEDIA VICTIMS LAW CENTER
10 821 Second Avenue, Suite 2100
Seattle, WA 98104
11
Telephone: (206) 741-4862
12 Facsimile: (206) 957-9549

13 WATERS KRAUS & PAUL


Kevin M. Loew (SBN 238080)
14 kloew@waterskraus.com
222 North Pacific Coast Hwy, Suite 1900
15
El Segundo, California 90245
16 Telephone: (310) 414-8146
Facsimile: (310) 414-8156
17
SEEGER WEISS LLP
18 Christopher A. Seeger (Pro Hac Vice anticipated)
19 cseeger@seegerweiss.com
Christopher Ayers
20 cayers@seegerweiss.com
55 Challenger Road
21 Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660
Telephone: 973-639-9100
22 Facsimile: 973-679-8656
23
Robert H. Klonoff (Pro Hac Vice anticipated)
24 klonoff@usa.net
2425 S.W. 76th Ave.
25 Portland, Oregon 97225
Telephone: (503) 702-0218
26 Facsimile: (503) 768-6671
27
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
28

COMPLAINT 40

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