TikTok fights to dismiss lawsuit from Bayport teen's family after his suicide
Chase Nasca, a late Bayport high school student, is shown here in a family photo. His parents sued TikTok, accusing the company of causing his 2022 suicide after allegedly flooding his acccount with unsolicited videos promoting suicide before the teen stepped in front of a train. The company called his death a tragedy and is fighting for the case's dismissal. Credit: Nasca Family
A groundbreaking Suffolk County lawsuit accusing TikTok, the popular video sharing app, of causing the death of a Bayport high school junior is progressing through the court system as the national conversation has turned to a discussion of the potential dangers of social media on the health of young people.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., have argued for the dismissal of the lawsuit Dean and Michelle Nasca, the parents of Chase Nasca, filed in March 2023.
The 16-year-old died after stepping in front of a Long Island Rail Road train after, according to allegations in the lawsuit, TikTok inundated his account with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide.
Court records show TikTok has argued it “is not a tangible ‘product’ subject to product liability law” and has “no legal duty of care to protect against third-party depictions of dangerous activity that would give rise to a negligence claim.”
Attorneys for the social media platform also called Chase's death a “tragedy” and said the company takes “the mental health and wellbeing of TikTok users seriously.”
Megan Lawless, TikTok's Garden City-based attorney, referred calls to the social media company, which didn't respond to requests for comment. The Nascas declined a Newsday interview request.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney who represents them, said that “while this case has been in procedural limbo for the past year, the overall landscape has changed in favor of families trying to hold TikTok and other social media companies accountable for the foreseeable harm the platform has inflicted on their kid.”
The attorney, who founded the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center, said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy's recent call for Congress to require a warning label on social media platforms is a “step in the right direction” for parents and children alike.
“Since this case was filed … the public has become more and more aware about how dangerous and pernicious the TikTok product is when used by minors,” Bergman added. “… For the same reason that tobacco warnings were instrumental in changing the national conversation about cigarette smoking, we're hopeful that warning labels on social media products will have the same impact in educating the public on the dangers of social media.”
Meanwhile, a Suffolk County judge has dismissed the MTA, Long Island Rail Road and Islip Town — who were accused of not fencing off the area where Chase was killed — from the lawsuit.
In a statement, MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said “trespassing on railroad tracks is illegal, dangerous, often ends tragically, and we do not comment on pending litigation.”
An Islip Town spokeswoman declined to comment.
The lawsuit says that on Feb. 18, 2022, Chase texted “can't do it anymore” to a friend after leaving a gym and then stepped in front of a LIRR train near the intersection of Railroad Street and Fairview Avenue in Bayport.
Chase Nasca was a popular and athletic teenager — he'd been accepted into an Olympic Development Program soccer team — and had no history of anxiety or depression, according to the lawsuit.
It argues TikTok's design and algorithm caused Chase to suffer from severe depression and prompted his suicide.
Around 2019 or 2020, Chase opened a TikTok account, without his parents' permission, and quickly became addicted to the app, the litigation contends.
It alleges the teen's search history on TikTok showed he sought out videos on Batman, kitchen hacks and motivational workouts, but the social media app flooded his “For You” page with disturbing videos, including one suggesting young people should end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok — which has more than 150 million users in the United States and more than 1 billion users worldwide — to a U.S. company within one year or face a national ban.
ByteDance contends the law violates the First Amendment.
A groundbreaking Suffolk County lawsuit accusing TikTok, the popular video sharing app, of causing the death of a Bayport high school junior is progressing through the court system as the national conversation has turned to a discussion of the potential dangers of social media on the health of young people.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., have argued for the dismissal of the lawsuit Dean and Michelle Nasca, the parents of Chase Nasca, filed in March 2023.
The 16-year-old died after stepping in front of a Long Island Rail Road train after, according to allegations in the lawsuit, TikTok inundated his account with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide.
Court records show TikTok has argued it “is not a tangible ‘product’ subject to product liability law” and has “no legal duty of care to protect against third-party depictions of dangerous activity that would give rise to a negligence claim.”
Attorneys for the social media platform also called Chase's death a “tragedy” and said the company takes “the mental health and wellbeing of TikTok users seriously.”
Megan Lawless, TikTok's Garden City-based attorney, referred calls to the social media company, which didn't respond to requests for comment. The Nascas declined a Newsday interview request.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney who represents them, said that “while this case has been in procedural limbo for the past year, the overall landscape has changed in favor of families trying to hold TikTok and other social media companies accountable for the foreseeable harm the platform has inflicted on their kid.”
The attorney, who founded the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center, said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy's recent call for Congress to require a warning label on social media platforms is a “step in the right direction” for parents and children alike.
“Since this case was filed … the public has become more and more aware about how dangerous and pernicious the TikTok product is when used by minors,” Bergman added. “… For the same reason that tobacco warnings were instrumental in changing the national conversation about cigarette smoking, we're hopeful that warning labels on social media products will have the same impact in educating the public on the dangers of social media.”
Meanwhile, a Suffolk County judge has dismissed the MTA, Long Island Rail Road and Islip Town — who were accused of not fencing off the area where Chase was killed — from the lawsuit.
In a statement, MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said “trespassing on railroad tracks is illegal, dangerous, often ends tragically, and we do not comment on pending litigation.”
An Islip Town spokeswoman declined to comment.
The lawsuit says that on Feb. 18, 2022, Chase texted “can't do it anymore” to a friend after leaving a gym and then stepped in front of a LIRR train near the intersection of Railroad Street and Fairview Avenue in Bayport.
Chase Nasca was a popular and athletic teenager — he'd been accepted into an Olympic Development Program soccer team — and had no history of anxiety or depression, according to the lawsuit.
It argues TikTok's design and algorithm caused Chase to suffer from severe depression and prompted his suicide.
Around 2019 or 2020, Chase opened a TikTok account, without his parents' permission, and quickly became addicted to the app, the litigation contends.
It alleges the teen's search history on TikTok showed he sought out videos on Batman, kitchen hacks and motivational workouts, but the social media app flooded his “For You” page with disturbing videos, including one suggesting young people should end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok — which has more than 150 million users in the United States and more than 1 billion users worldwide — to a U.S. company within one year or face a national ban.
ByteDance contends the law violates the First Amendment.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
