11-10-2023 (UTAH) In a growing wave of legal actions against the Chinese-owned app TikTok, the state of Utah has filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, October 10, accusing the platform of deliberately causing harm to children by encouraging them to spend excessive amounts of time on the short-video sharing app.
This lawsuit from Utah adds to the mounting legal challenges facing TikTok in the United States, with states like Indiana and Arkansas also bringing similar suits against the popular app.
Utah’s Attorney General, Sean Reyes, stated in the lawsuit that TikTok is misleading both children and their parents regarding the safety of its platform. He claims that TikTok is exploiting its young users, compelling them to use the app obsessively, despite the detrimental impact it has on their mental health, physical development, family relationships, and social lives.
The lawsuit filed by Utah in state court alleges that TikTok employs “highly powerful algorithms and manipulative design features,” with many of these features bearing similarities to those found in slot machines. These manipulative tactics, according to the suit, result in young consumers becoming addicted to the platform.
TikTok, owned by ByteDance and boasting more than 150 million users in the United States, responded to the lawsuit by asserting that it has industry-leading safety measures for young users. These include an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under the age of 18 and parental controls for teenage accounts.
Attorney General Reyes confirmed that Utah’s investigation into TikTok is ongoing, and he intends to seek a court order next week compelling TikTok to comply with investigative subpoenas.
The state of Utah is pursuing civil penalties in addition to an injunction that would prohibit TikTok from violating state laws designed to protect consumers from deceptive business practices.
Meanwhile, Indiana’s lawsuit against TikTok, initiated in December, remains pending in state court, as does Arkansas’ suit, which targeted both TikTok and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, in March. Arkansas filed its lawsuit against both platforms, citing concerns about addictive features.
Last year, a group of Republican lawmakers raised concerns that TikTok’s algorithm continuously exposes children to inappropriate content. They argued that TikTok’s algorithm imposes such content upon young users.
On Thursday, a judge is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit initiated by TikTok in an effort to block Montana’s state ban on the use of TikTok. Montana’s legislature passed legislation to ban TikTok, citing concerns about potential spying. This legal battle is part of a broader context where Congress has been considering legislation that would empower the Biden administration to restrict or ban TikTok over fears of potential espionage. TikTok has consistently denied allegations of spying and has claimed to have invested more than $1.5 billion in robust data security efforts.
