TikTok sued by Long Island family alleging it drove their son to suicide
Dean and Michelle Nasca, Chase Nasca's parents, during testimony Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Michael Reynolds
A Bayport teenager with no history of mental health issues stepped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train and took his own life last year after being inundated with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide on his TikTok account, according to a lawsuit filed this week in State Supreme Court in Central Islip.
The lawsuit blames the popular social media app for the death of Chase Nasca, 16, in February 2022, accusing TikTok of flooding the teen's "For You" page with violent and disturbing images and videos — including one suggesting that youngsters should end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train.
The Bayport High School junior's search history on TikTok shows he sought out none of that content, instead seeking out videos on Batman, kitchen hacks and motivational workouts, the suit contends.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney representing the Nasca family, said Nasca was an "all-American" teen excelling in school, enrolled in a soccer program and close with his family and a large circle of friends.
"He did not outwardly appear to be in distress," said Bergman, the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center. "It was not until after he walked in front of the Long Island Rail Road train that his parents retrieved his TikTok account and found over 1,000 messages urging suicidal behavior, including specifically jumping in front of a train."
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Nasca's parents, Dean and Michelle Nasca, names TikTok, its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Town of Islip — the latter two for not fencing off the area where the teen was killed.
Spokeswomen for TikTok and Islip Town each declined to comment, citing pending litigation. MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said "trespassing on railroad tracks is illegal, dangerous, often ends tragically and we do not comment on pending litigation.” ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.
The Nascas, who declined an interview request through their attorney, were in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the company's business practices. Federal lawmakers are considering banning the video-sharing platform, which has more than 150 million users in the United States.
"Your technology is literally leading to death," Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) told Chew as Nasca's parents sobbed openly in the hearing room. "Your company destroyed their lives.”
Chew responded that Nasca's story was "devastating" but that TikTok has roughly 40,000 moderators that track harmful content, and an algorithm that flags material.
Chase Nasca first opened a TikTok account in 2019 or 2020 and quickly became addicted to the app, the lawsuit contends.
Over time, the app's "For You" page, which posts videos to each user's account based on several data points, began matching Nasca with large amounts of self-harm and suicide-themed videos, according to the 91-page complaint, which includes dozens of the disturbing images.
By October 2021, content from other accounts, burnished with dark suicide-themed music, comprised the bulk of the videos Nasca was seeing on the platform, even though he had not searched out the content, Bergman said.
"The TikTok defendants knew or should have known that Chase was engaged in harmful use of their product; that their decision to send him thousands of extreme and harmful videos was negatively impacting his mental health," the suit contends. "And moreover, based on Chase’s own searches, TikTok knew or should have known that he was looking for the opposite content from what TikTok was serving him and that TikTok was pushing him over the edge."
On Feb. 18, 2022, Nasca worked out at a gym and went to the uncompleted fence line at the intersection of Railroad Street and Fairview Avenue in Bayport. He messaged his friend on Snapchat, writing, “I can’t do it anymore," the suit said. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., he was struck and killed by an LIRR train.
In late October, more than eight months after Chase’s death, the suit said, the Nascas accessed their son's TikTok account and found that the app was continuing to flood it with videos promoting suicide and self-harm.
The social media app's algorithm, Bergman said, is deliberately designed to show "psychologically discordant" videos to vulnerable teens to keep them hooked online.
"TikTok's profit model is designed with the singular purpose of maximizing engagement," Bergman said. "The longer they have kids online, the more advertising they can sell and the more money they make."
A Bayport teenager with no history of mental health issues stepped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train and took his own life last year after being inundated with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide on his TikTok account, according to a lawsuit filed this week in State Supreme Court in Central Islip.
The lawsuit blames the popular social media app for the death of Chase Nasca, 16, in February 2022, accusing TikTok of flooding the teen's "For You" page with violent and disturbing images and videos — including one suggesting that youngsters should end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train.
The Bayport High School junior's search history on TikTok shows he sought out none of that content, instead seeking out videos on Batman, kitchen hacks and motivational workouts, the suit contends.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney representing the Nasca family, said Nasca was an "all-American" teen excelling in school, enrolled in a soccer program and close with his family and a large circle of friends.
WHAT TO KNOW
- A Bayport teenager took his own life last year after his TikTok page became inundated with unsolicited videos promoting suicide and self harm, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Suffolk County.
- Chase Nasca, 16, had no history of mental illness before he stepped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train on Feb. 18, 2022, the lawsuit contends.
- The lawsuit names TikTok, its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Town of Islip.
"He did not outwardly appear to be in distress," said Bergman, the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center. "It was not until after he walked in front of the Long Island Rail Road train that his parents retrieved his TikTok account and found over 1,000 messages urging suicidal behavior, including specifically jumping in front of a train."
Others also named in suit
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Nasca's parents, Dean and Michelle Nasca, names TikTok, its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Town of Islip — the latter two for not fencing off the area where the teen was killed.
Spokeswomen for TikTok and Islip Town each declined to comment, citing pending litigation. MTA spokesman Michael Cortez said "trespassing on railroad tracks is illegal, dangerous, often ends tragically and we do not comment on pending litigation.” ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.
The Nascas, who declined an interview request through their attorney, were in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the company's business practices. Federal lawmakers are considering banning the video-sharing platform, which has more than 150 million users in the United States.
"Your technology is literally leading to death," Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) told Chew as Nasca's parents sobbed openly in the hearing room. "Your company destroyed their lives.”
Chase Nasca was 16 when he died. Credit: Nasca Family
Chew responded that Nasca's story was "devastating" but that TikTok has roughly 40,000 moderators that track harmful content, and an algorithm that flags material.
Chase Nasca first opened a TikTok account in 2019 or 2020 and quickly became addicted to the app, the lawsuit contends.
Over time, the app's "For You" page, which posts videos to each user's account based on several data points, began matching Nasca with large amounts of self-harm and suicide-themed videos, according to the 91-page complaint, which includes dozens of the disturbing images.
Suit cites 'harmful videos'
By October 2021, content from other accounts, burnished with dark suicide-themed music, comprised the bulk of the videos Nasca was seeing on the platform, even though he had not searched out the content, Bergman said.
"The TikTok defendants knew or should have known that Chase was engaged in harmful use of their product; that their decision to send him thousands of extreme and harmful videos was negatively impacting his mental health," the suit contends. "And moreover, based on Chase’s own searches, TikTok knew or should have known that he was looking for the opposite content from what TikTok was serving him and that TikTok was pushing him over the edge."
On Feb. 18, 2022, Nasca worked out at a gym and went to the uncompleted fence line at the intersection of Railroad Street and Fairview Avenue in Bayport. He messaged his friend on Snapchat, writing, “I can’t do it anymore," the suit said. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., he was struck and killed by an LIRR train.
In late October, more than eight months after Chase’s death, the suit said, the Nascas accessed their son's TikTok account and found that the app was continuing to flood it with videos promoting suicide and self-harm.
The social media app's algorithm, Bergman said, is deliberately designed to show "psychologically discordant" videos to vulnerable teens to keep them hooked online.
"TikTok's profit model is designed with the singular purpose of maximizing engagement," Bergman said. "The longer they have kids online, the more advertising they can sell and the more money they make."
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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