Social media giant TikTok is being held responsible for injuries, hospitalisations and deaths, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuits are being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James on behalf of a coalition of 14 US attorneys general.

The move comes as the NSW and South Australian governments prepare to host a summit on social media at ICC Sydney on Thursday.

The summit will bring together local and international experts, policymakers, academics, young people and community voices “to discuss the positive and negative impacts of social media on people’s lives and to explore solutions to concerns”.

The US lawsuits, filed individually by each member of the coalition, allege that TikTok “violated state laws by falsely claiming its platform is safe for young people”.

“In fact, many young users are struggling with poor mental health and body image issues due to the platform’s addictive features and are getting injured, hospitalised, or dying because of dangerous TikTok ‘challenges’ that are created and promoted on the platform,” the lawsuit alleges.

The coalition is seeking to “stop TikTok’s harmful practices and impose financial penalties” on the social media company. 

“Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said AG James. 

“TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true. In New York and across the country, young people have died or gotten injured doing dangerous TikTok challenges and many more are feeling more sad, anxious, and depressed because of TikTok’s addictive features. 

“Today, we are suing TikTok to protect young people and help combat the nationwide youth mental health crisis. Kids and families across the country are desperate for help to address this crisis, and we are doing everything in our power to protect them.” 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said “TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits. TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defencses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content”.

“When we look at the youth mental health crisis and the revenue machine TikTok has created, fueled by the time and attention of our young people, it’s devastatingly obvious: our children and teens never stood a chance against these social media behemoths,” Bonta said. 

“TikTok must be held accountable for the harms it created in taking away the time — and childhoods — of American children.”

According to the lawsuits, “TikTok’s underlying business model focuses on maximizing young users’ time on the platform so the company can boost revenue from selling targeted ads. TikTok uses an addictive content-recommendation system designed to keep minors on the platform as long as possible and as often as possible, despite the dangers of compulsive use”.