A group of state attorneys general has announced an investigation into TikTok and the potential harm it may cause younger users. The fact-finding is not unlike that launched by top state legal advisors last year into Meta Platforms. The bipartisan group is exploring whether TikTok is violating state consumer protection laws with engagement tactics that may cause minors to become “hooked” on the app. Kids in the age of social media “feel like they need to measure up to the filtered versions of reality that they see on their screens,” said California attorney general Rob Bonta.

Bonta, who represents one of the eight states leading the probe and is also part of the Meta inquiry that got underway in November, seems to accept as fact that social media can take ”a devastating toll on children’s mental health and well-being,” as per his statement regarding the current investigation. What remains to be discovered is “what social media companies knew about these harms and when.”

In addition to California, the initiative is led by attorneys general from Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont, who are joined by other attorneys general from around the country.

“The same group is also leading an investigation into Facebook parent Meta for allegedly promoting Instagram to young users despite knowledge of its potential harms,” writes CNBC. In May 2021, a bipartisan coalition of 44 attorneys general urged Facebook to abandon plans to launch a version of Instagram for children under 13. CNBC says the company “has not fully committed” to that plan.

The issue of children’s online safety has become a central focus on Capitol Hill, where Congress has led several hearings on the subject this past year, hearing testimony from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, among others.

On Tuesday, Haugen was acknowledged by President Biden and got a hearty round of applause at the State of the Union address, which she attended as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden. During the address, “President Biden urged privacy and other regulatory protections for youth online, saying, ‘We must hold social media accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit,’” The New York Times reports.

Tiktok, the short-form video platform owned by China’s ByteDance, had about 78.7 million U.S. active monthly users in 2021, a number that is expected to reach 84.9 million by the end of the year, as per Statista, which says calls it “one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the United States and especially popular with younger digital audiences.”

Last month, the Commerce Department acted to strengthen federal rules against foreign-owned social platforms, including TikTok, due to concern over efforts “to steal or otherwise obtain” consumer data.