Four months had passed since the loss of Jennie DeSerio's son to suicide. Overwhelmed by grief and plagued by unanswered questions, she reached for his phone and made the decision to delve into his TikTok account.
What she uncovered left her horrified. In the days leading up to his passing, she discovered that her 16-year-old son, Mason Edens, had engaged with numerous disturbing videos centered on themes of breakups, depression, and suicide. While she was aware that Mason had recently experienced a difficult breakup, she had been unaware of the content he was consuming on a platform that had captured more and more of his attention.
DeSerio revealed that she encountered at least 15 videos that Mason had liked which overtly advocated for suicide, with some of them still accessible on the platform over a year later. Among these, at least five videos explicitly promoted the method he had tragically employed.
DeSerio's heartbreaking conviction: "I firmly believe Mason would still be here if he hadn't been exposed to that content."
She is currently involved in a lawsuit alongside eight other parents, targeting several social media companies for what they claim are product defects that directly contributed to their children's deaths. The lawsuit specifically alleges that TikTok deliberately targeted Mason with content promoting suicide and self-harm. Their legal action is part of a larger movement of lawsuits adopting an innovative legal strategy, arguing that social media platforms such as TikTok are inherently defective and perilous due to their addictive nature for young users. Advocates of this approach hope it will provide a means for individuals to seek justice for the harms they allege have been caused by social media platforms.
In addition to the ongoing lawsuit involving DeSerio and eight other parents, at least four other active legal cases have been filed against TikTok and other social media companies, with parents asserting that TikTok content played a role in their children's suicides.
Furthermore, a recent lawsuit filed this month by two tribal nations targets TikTok, Meta, Snap, and Google, alleging that the addictive and potentially harmful designs of social media platforms have contributed to increased suicide rates among Native Americans. Google has denied the allegations, stating they are "not true," while Snap has indicated its commitment to continue efforts in providing resources related to teenage mental health.
Suicide is a multifaceted issue, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is seldom the result of a single circumstance or event. "Instead, a variety of factors — encompassing individual, relational, community, and societal dimensions — can elevate risk. These risk factors represent situations or challenges that may heighten the likelihood that an individual will contemplate or attempt suicide," states the CDC on its suicide prevention website.
A spokesperson for TikTok stated that the company is unable to provide comment on ongoing legal proceedings. However, they emphasized, "TikTok remains committed to implementing measures that lead the industry in ensuring a safe and positive environment for teenagers." They highlighted that teen accounts are automatically set to private by default, and teens have the option to opt-out of continuous screen time with a 60-minute allowance before being prompted to enter a passcode.
While TikTok maintains clear policies against content that promotes suicide or encourages actions leading to self-harm, the sheer volume of billions of videos on the platform means that some content glorifying suicide may still manage to evade detection.
DeSerio shared that Mason became deeply engrossed in TikTok to the point where he experienced difficulty sleeping, which exacerbated his anxiety. According to friends, TikTok served as an emotional outlet for Mason, especially during his first experience with heartbreak.
"Sending videos like that to a 16-year-old boy through TikTok should never happen. There needs to be real accountability because they won't self-regulate on their own," DeSerio remarked regarding social media companies.
Mason had a deep passion for sports and the great outdoors.
"We were constantly engaged in activities like basketball or football. Being outside and active was just our thing," recalled his friend Braxton Cole-Farmer. "Mason wasn't one to sit idle at home. If we didn't have any plans, we'd just hit the road and find something to do."
"He was always there for everyone," Cole-Farmer continued. "No matter what you were going through, Mason was the kind of person who wouldn't judge you. He was always ready to lend an ear."
Cole-Farmer acknowledged that Mason would sometimes immerse himself in his phone during tough times, but it didn't raise any alarms initially.
"Well, we're all teenagers, you know? We're all glued to our phones. So, seeing him on his phone a lot didn't seem like a big deal. It's just how our generation is," Cole-Farmer explained.
In the months leading up to his passing, Mason had been involved in a tumultuous relationship that ultimately ended in a breakup, according to family and friends. The heartbreak he experienced had a profound impact on him, and its repercussions were felt throughout his school life.
Initially, Mason's parents viewed his distress as typical teenage sorrow following a breakup. However, a few weeks after the breakup occurred, Mason and his mother recognized the need for professional assistance and began actively seeking to arrange a therapy session for him.
DeSerio noted that Mason was aware that the breakup had exacerbated his anxiety and was taking proactive measures to improve his mental well-being.
"He was displaying some anger, which wasn't typical for him," she observed.
DeSerio emphasized that the family maintained open communication regarding mental health, discussing topics such as anxiety and potential treatments in the week preceding Mason's passing. Based on what she heard and observed from him during this time, she didn't perceive the situation as an emergency.
What DeSerio wasn't aware of was the content Mason was exposed to online — videos containing graphic and explicit depictions and methods of self-harm.
Mason like a video in which an audio overlay featured the phrase, "I wanna put a shotgun to my f------ mouth and blow my brains out," accompanied by text discussing depression. While the audio from that post was eventually taken down, the video itself remains accessible. Another video detailed a suicide plan, along with commentary about relationship struggles.
Despite the clear allusions to suicide when the elements of these videos are considered together, it seems that many of them managed to evade detection by TikTok's automated moderation system. TikTok explains that its auto-moderation system is engineered to detect a range of signals that could suggest a violation of community guidelines, including keywords, images, titles, descriptions, and audio within a video.
TikTok declined to provide comment on the specifics of how or why the videos Mason engaged with managed to bypass its moderation system.
Adding another layer of concern, Mason wasn't just consuming troubling content. On the day of his passing, he changed his TikTok profile picture to an image of rapper Lil Loaded. Lil Loaded, tragically, had taken his own life after a breakup, and his story had gained a disturbing resonance on the platform.
Numerous videos on TikTok, some with millions of views, celebrated Lil Loaded's death and used his image to romanticize suicide as a response to heartbreak. One such video, with over 100,000 views, featured a despairing audio clip alongside text.
Mason's stepbrother, Anthony, aged 16, mentioned that on the day of Mason's passing, Mason altered his TikTok profile picture to an image of Lil Loaded and jokingly remarked to Anthony before school that he was going to "pull a Lil Loaded."
Anthony recalled asking Mason directly if he was feeling suicidal, to which Mason responded that he was only joking around.
On the evening of November 14th, 2022, concerned about Mason's well-being, Jennie attempted to take his phone to ensure a restful night's sleep – a routine practice for his mental health. However, Mason had just regained his phone after a school suspension, and this request sparked a sudden outburst. He bolted across the room and struck Jennie, a reaction that left her deeply shaken. This behavior was completely out of character for the Mason she knew.
In response to this unexpected turn of events, Dave, Mason's stepfather, decided to confiscate the phone.
While Jennie and Dave tried to understand the situation, Mason, visibly upset and in tears, retreated to his room and locked the door without their awareness. When Dave realized Mason's isolation, he rushed to the room, pleading for him to open the door.
Tragically, it was too late. Mason had made a devastating decision, leaving his family heartbroken.The 16-year-old died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Social media giants have historically enjoyed legal protection from most content posted on their platforms due to Section 230. This law essentially shields them from being treated as publishers responsible for user-generated content.
However, the tide may be turning. A growing movement seeks to hold these companies accountable through innovative legal strategies. One approach, like the lawsuit filed by Jennie DeSerio on behalf of her son Mason, bypasses Section 230 by focusing on the concept of defective product design.
DeSerio's lawsuit argues that TikTok's design is inherently harmful. It alleges the platform uses manipulative algorithms to collect users' personal data and then targets them with extreme content, including topics related to violence, self-harm, and even suicide.
This lawsuit, along with others like it, could be a game-changer. Courts in California and on a federal level are poised to hear these arguments, potentially opening the door for a wave of product safety claims against social media companies.
"TikTok targeted Mason through AI-driven feed-based mechanisms," the suit alleges. "It gathered his private information without his awareness or consent, and in ways that went beyond what a reasonable consumer would expect or permit. Subsequently, it utilized this personal data to expose him to extreme and potentially lethal content, including violence, self-harm, and suicide promotion."
California courts and a federal court are both poised to commence hearing groups of cases that advance such arguments, potentially exposing social media companies to a range of claims related to product safety.
Matthew Bergman and his firm, the Social Media Victims Law Center, are serving as legal counsel for DeSerio and the other plaintiffs in her case.
"It is our argument that TikTok, in particular, constitutes an unreasonably dangerous product due to its addictive nature for young people," Bergman stated.
Bergman asserts that Mason's decision to take his own life was influenced by the content he encountered on TikTok.
"TikTok inundated him with videos advocating not only for suicide, but for him to do so in a particular manner, all in order to maintain his engagement over a short period of time," Bergman elaborated.
Content promoting suicide and self-harm has been an ongoing concern for TikTok and other social media platforms for years.
In November, Amnesty International published a research report revealing that teenagers' accounts on TikTok, which initially expressed an interest in mental health, often spiraled into a stream of videos on the subject, ultimately leading to numerous videos that either romanticized, normalized, or encouraged suicide.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates among young people in the U.S. rose by 67% from 2007 to 2021. However, in 2022, there was a slight decrease in suicide rates among young people. Mental health professionals have indicated that the United States is currently experiencing a crisis in teen mental health.
Amnesty International researcher Lisa Dittmer found, through interviews with teenagers, that sometimes they were too vulnerable to resist negative thoughts. This made them more susceptible to the inner voice telling them life was hopeless and painful.
The TikTok app immediately immerses users in short-form videos, often from the "For You page," which utilizes an algorithm to determine which videos to present to users next. This recommendation system is one of the platform's most influential features. It has been repeatedly described as addictive by organizations such as Amnesty International and the Social Media Victims Law Center, and as possessing an understanding of users that surpasses their own self-awareness.
In a document purportedly reviewed by The New York Times in 2021, TikTok elucidated that the algorithm is engineered to maximize user engagement and retention on the platform, analyzing each user's interaction with every video. According to the Times report, the algorithm takes into account factors such as users' video preferences, comments, and viewing duration to tailor recommendations.
TikTok has asserted that it has implemented measures to mitigate the phenomenon of content rabbit holes, offering tools that empower users to reset their recommendation algorithms and filter out videos containing specific words. Additionally, TikTok provides parents with oversight capabilities for teen accounts, allowing them to further customize screen time limits and content controls.
Dittmer mentioned that teenagers who attempted to utilize these tools found them ineffective during their interviews.
She emphasized that young individuals grappling with mental health challenges were particularly vulnerable to falling into depressive patterns on TikTok.
"It's not necessarily that the average teenager will automatically become depressed or suicidal from using TikTok, but for young people who already have those thoughts, TikTok tends to latch onto their interests and vulnerabilities, amplifying them relentlessly," she stated.
Megan Chesin, a psychology professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey who has researched the link between media and suicide, highlighted that the primary concern regarding social media for susceptible individuals is the potential for content to be encouraging or instructive.
"The risk, of course, is that individuals, such as the adolescent you're discussing, may learn or feel empowered to contemplate or attempt suicide based on what they see or comprehend on social media," Chesin remarked. "The greater the exposure to such content, the lower one's threshold may become for acting on their own thoughts or impulses towards self-harm or suicide."
During a House of Representatives hearing last May, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., showcased videos discovered on TikTok that promoted suicide to TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Two of these videos featured explicit descriptions of suicide involving firearms. In response, Chew stated, "We take these issues very seriously, and we do provide resources for anybody that types in something suicide-related."
As DeSerio awaits her own day in court, she has dedicated her efforts to raising awareness about the impact of social media on children and teenagers.
"Every day I wake up knowing that I must share the broader message to prevent another child, another mother from experiencing this anguish," DeSerio declared.
DeSerio consented to be filmed for a documentary recounting Mason's story, currently in production. In January, both she and Mason's stepfather traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend as Chew testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee alongside other tech CEOs, addressing concerns regarding child safety and social media.
"It's about standing before society and challenging the 'norm,'" she reflected. "At times, it can be quite daunting."
Alongside other parents, DeSerio sat in the audience, clutching a photo of Mason.
As Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood in a moment unprecedented in the hearing, apologizing to parents for their anguish, DeSerio also rose to her feet, holding Mason's photo aloft.
The image would be disseminated globally through photos and videos capturing the profoundly emotional confrontation between one of the world's most influential individuals and the parents who have been striving to capture his attention for years.
"I believed that my role as his mother ended that night with him," DeSerio expressed. "Little did I realize that my purpose had simply evolved."