Judge dismisses TikTok lawsuit by Bayport parents alleging app drove son to suicide
Dean and Michelle Nasca attend a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023. Credit: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
A lawsuit blaming TikTok for the 2022 death of a Bayport teenager who took his own life after being inundated with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide has been dismissed by a Suffolk County judge, who ruled the social media app is immune from state liability.
The April 17 decision by State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Santorelli in Riverhead found Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act immunized platforms such as TikTok from liability stemming from content created by third-party users.
The parents of 16-year-old Chase Nasca had accused the popular social media app of flooding the teen's "For You" page with violent and disturbing images and videos — including one suggesting youngsters should end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train.
While Santorelli did not dispute the facts of the case, he ruled the case ultimately hinges on the way TikTok publishes its material to users through its algorithms.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A lawsuit blaming TikTok for the 2022 death of a Bayport teenager who took his own life after being inundated with thousands of unsolicited videos promoting suicide has been dismissed by a Suffolk County judge, who ruled the social media app is immune from state liability.
- The April 17 decision by State Supreme Court Judge Joseph Santorelli in Riverhead found Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act immunized platforms such as TikTok from liability stemming from content created by third-party users.
- The parents of 16-year-old Chase Nasca had accused the popular social media app 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.
"While plaintiffs attempt to characterize TikTok's underlying actions as ‘design, engineering, and programming decisions,’ they admit that Chase died because TikTok failed to adequately monitor and remove suicidal content," Santorelli wrote. "Accordingly, plaintiffs seek to hold defendants liable for its exercise of a publisher’s traditional editorial functions. Therefore, the defendants are immune from state law liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the defendants' motion to dismiss is granted and the complaint is dismissed."
The court said it was unnecessary to address additional defenses offered by TikTok, including that the lawsuit be barred by the First Amendment or the plaintiffs lacked causation related to Nasca's suicide.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney representing the Nasca family and founder of the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center, said "we intend to appeal. We respectfully disagree with the trial court's ruling and intend to seek review from ... the New York Court of Appeals."
Dean and Michelle Nasca, Chase Nasca's parents, declined to comment on the decision.
Attorneys for TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chase Nasca appears in an undated family photograph. Credit: Nasca Family
Chase Nasca was a Bayport-Blue Point High School junior and honors student who had been accepted into an Olympic Development Program soccer team, the lawsuit stated.
The parents contend Chase Nasca had no history of anxiety or depression when, around 2019 or 2020, he opened a TikTok account without his parents' permission and quickly became addicted to the app.
The suit alleges the teen's TikTok search history showed he sought videos on Batman, kitchen hacks and motivational workouts, but the app flooded his page with disturbing and violent videos, including "thousands" recommending suicide.
The family contends Nasca suffered a severe mental health decline after using the social media app, but didn’t show outward signs of depression.
On Feb. 18, 2022, Nasca rode his bicycle to the Long Island Rail Road tracks near his home, texted "can't do it anymore" to a friend and stepped in front of a train, according to the lawsuit.
Recent court filings by the plaintiffs contend TikTok "monitors users' GPS location and uses their location information to send them 'relevant' videos."
TikTok videos allegedly directed to Nasca, who lived a quarter mile from Long Island Rail Road tracks, "encouraged young people to end their lives by stepping in front of a moving train," a Feb. 5 court filing states.
The March 2023 lawsuit named TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., as defendants.
Santorelli last year dismissed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, LIRR and Islip Town — who were accused of not fencing the area where Nasca was killed — from the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, one of dozens filed against TikTok and ByteDance in recent years, comes during a precarious time for the social media behemoth.
Former President Joe Biden signed a law, which passed overwhelmingly in Congress in 2024, forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban, citing security concerns that the Chinese government is using it to spread propaganda and to collect data on its U.S. users.
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States for 75 days.
Trump issued a second 75-day extension earlier this month, writing on Truth Social that a deal "requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed."
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
Most Popular
