TikTok Embraces Meditation in Response to Lawsuits and Concerns About Its Impact on Kids
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Plagued with allegations and lawsuits regarding its impact on users’ mental health, especially among children, social media platform TikTok has decided to incorporate meditation—specifically, guiding its users toward the calming effects of deep breathing.
TikTok announced on Thursday that it is launching in-app guided meditation exercises and other well-being features geared toward young users. The platform, owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, began testing these new meditation exercises with selected teens earlier this year and will now make them accessible to users of all ages.
The meditation feature, intended to enhance sleep quality, will be triggered during designated “sleep hours” and will be enabled by default for users under 18. If these young users remain active on the app after 10 p.m., their “For You” feed will be interrupted by the guided meditation exercise. Should a teen continue using TikTok after the initial reminder, a second full-screen meditation prompt will be displayed.
The meditation initiative was highlighted alongside other features, such as new educational feeds, online safety tools, and enhanced parental controls over screen time. TikTok’s recent emphasis on promoting healthier digital habits for young users comes in the wake of public scrutiny and numerous lawsuits concerning the platform’s effects on youth.
A bipartisan group of over a dozen state attorneys general filed lawsuits against TikTok last year focusing on the app’s impact on young users. One suit, led by Attorney General Brian Schwalb of the District of Columbia, alleged that TikTok was deliberately addictive and psychologically harmful to children, posing significant risks including depression, anxiety, sleep loss, and body dysmorphia.
A TikTok spokesperson previously indicated that the lawsuit overlooked the proactive measures the platform has taken to support community safety and well-being. Additionally, social psychologists have raised concerns, suggesting that TikTok and similar platforms may contribute to mental health issues among children, adolescents, and young adults.
The platform briefly went offline in the U.S. in January after the Supreme Court upheld a law mandating a ban unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divested its stake. However, an executive order allowed the platform to continue operations, and the enforcement of that ban was postponed again last month. Its long-term status remains unclear, with ByteDance facing a new deadline for divestment set for mid-June.
While Congress’s concerns have primarily targeted TikTok’s Chinese ownership and related data and privacy issues, there has also been increasing scrutiny regarding the app’s perceived negative impacts on young users. In November, Australia’s parliament passed legislation prohibiting social media platforms from allowing users under 16 to access their services, with penalties of up to AU$50 million (£22.2 million).
In the U.S., TikTok states that users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, although there is a separate experience for users under 13 that implements additional protections. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission filed a civil suit against TikTok and ByteDance in August, alleging that they had collected personal information from children under 13 and lacked effective policies for identifying and removing accounts created by minors.
TikTok and ByteDance did not respond immediately to requests for comments. On Thursday, TikTok announced a $2.3 million donation in ad credits to 31 mental health organizations across 22 countries as part of its “Mental Health Education Fund.”
