Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  States sue TikTok over alleged harms to young users More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia accused the platform of exploiting and harming young users while "deceiving" the public about these dangers. © PAP Photo/Matt Slocum California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James led the coalition of 14 attorneys general, who each filed suits in state court over violations of state consumer protection laws.   Bonta said a national investigation into TikTok found that the platform “cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits.”   “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content,” Bonta wrote.   TikTok’s business platform allegedly prioritizes maximizing young users’ time through its algorithm, which determines what users see on the app’s “For You” page. This helps boost the platform’s revenue through targeted advertising, the suits alleged.   TikTok’s “autoplay” feature, which continuously plays new and temporary posts, along with its “endless/infinite scroll,” are also mentioned in the suits.   In doing so, TikTok allegedly deceives users by claiming it prioritizes user safety through various tools, community guidelines and content moderation features, the attorneys general said.   “In truth, such features and efforts do not work as advertised, the harmful effects of the platform are far greater than acknowledged, and TikTok does not prioritize safety over profit,” Bonta’s office wrote in a release.   A TikTok spokesperson told The Hill the company “strongly disagrees” with the claims, describing them as “inaccurate and misleading.”   “We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product,” the spokesperson wrote.   “We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” the spokesperson said.    Read more at thehill.com.   Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:   Furious officials say misinformation is harming hurricane response  The aftermath of Hurricane Helene has sparked a flood of misinformation online, with federal, state and local leaders sounding the alarm that it is complicating an already difficult recovery process in the southern U.S. region.   The false claims began shortly after Helene hit Florida, Georgia and North Carolina late last month, leaving widespread destruction and a long road ahead for hundreds of thousands of residents. …  Full Story   Harris backers praise Lina Khan at tech-focused fundraiser Some Vice President Harris backers praised Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan at a tech-focused San Francisco fundraiser on Saturday headlined by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).  The reception, dubbed, “Little Tech for Harris,” was hosted by Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan and the CEO of enterprise cloud company Box, Aaron Levie. 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Ron DeSantis (R) said Monday that it was “delusional” for Vice President Harris to accuse him of “political gamesmanship” after reports … Read more Trump campaign blasts Woodward; denies secret Putin calls Former President Trump’s campaign is rejecting accounts in journalist Bob Woodward’s new book that the Republican presidential nominee … Read more   What Others are Reading  Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: What the British get right, and we don’t, about remote work     You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Technology newsletter Subscribe