Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 46 attorneys general, filed an amicus brief on Monday asking a court to order social media company TikTok, Inc. to fully comply with an ongoing national investigation into whether the company violated consumer protection laws. Raoul and the coalition are seeking to review internal TikTok communications as part of their investigation to determine whether the company engaged in deceptive, unfair and unconscionable conduct that harmed the mental health of TikTok users, particularly children and teens. Despite the request for these communications falling squarely within the investigative authority of the attorneys general, the amicus brief asserts that TikTok repeatedly and knowingly failed to preserve relevant information and failed to provide internal communications in a useful format. In their amicus brief, Raoul and the coalition support the state of Tennessee’s argument that TikTok has flouted its duty to preserve internal employee communications on an instant messaging service called Lark. There is a wealth of peer-reviewed research showing social media platforms, especially image- and video-based platforms like TikTok, are playing a substantial role in harming youth mental health. For example, in February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released findings demonstrating a startling increase in challenges to youth mental health, youth experiences of violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teenagers, especially teenage girls. This includes a finding that nearly one-third of teen girls seriously considered suicide in 2021, a nearly 60 percent increase from a decade prior. Other peer-reviewed research shows increased teen social media use is a significant driver of this crisis.