IF A SCIENCE fiction writer were to devise a digital age torture, it might be the one that Reece Young and Ashley Velez experienced in their work for TikTok and for which they are currently seeking class action relief.

Young and Velez prevailed Monday on the first leg of their quest to hold TikTok Inc. and its Mountain View parent company Bytedance Inc. accountable for allegedly failing to protect them from the psychological injuries they suffered from “moderating” gruesome content on the TikTok platform.

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Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.