Asian Tech Press (Mar. 3) -- A bipartisan coalition of U.S. attorneys general launched an investigation into TikTok on Wednesday, seeking information on whether the short-video platform is causing online harms to children.

The move is an extension of an investigation by the same group of eight state attorneys general into Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram, with the fast-growing TikTok also a target under scrutiny.

TikTok, the most popular non-gaming app worldwide, known as Douyin in China, is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd.

"As children and teens already grapple with issues of anxiety, social pressure, and depression, we cannot allow social media to further harm their physical health and mental wellbeing," said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in a statement.

Healey added, "State attorneys general have an imperative to protect young people and seek more information about how companies like TikTok are influencing their daily lives."

Leading the investigation into TikTok is a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont, according to the statement. They have been joined by a broad group of attorneys general from across the country.

This isn't the first trouble TikTok has gotten into in the United States. Earlier this year in January, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved an antitrust bill targeting major technology companies, including TikTok, one of China's largest social media companies.