An Arkansas mother is suing China’s popular TikTok app following the death of her son, saying he “would be alive today had he not seen those videos” on the Chinese social media platform.
“I completely believe in my heart that Mason would be alive today had he not seen those TikTok videos,” Jennie DeSerio, whose 16-year-old son Mason Edens died by suicide in November 2022, told NBC News.
DeSerio says Mason’s suicide was encouraged by TikTok’s algorithm that promoted pro-suicide content after her son experienced a bad breakup.
Mason’s mother said her son had “liked” dozens of graphic TikTok videos about breakups, depression, and suicide shortly before his death. DeSerio added that she found at least 15 videos Mason liked that directly promoted suicide, five of which specifically encouraged the method he had used.
More than a year later, some of these…
