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TikTok hit by US lawsuits over child safety, security fears
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For the children: A smartphone displays the logo of Chinese social networking platform TikTok on Oct. 5, 2021. TikTok was hit on Wednesday with a pair of lawsuits from state of Indiana in the United States, alleging that the Chinese-owned app’s algorithms exposed inappropriate content to users as young as 13. (AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev)
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ikTok was hit on Wednesday in the United States with a pair of lawsuits from the state of Indiana, which accused it of making false claims about the Chinese-owned app’s safety for children.
The legal salvo comes as problems mount for TikTok in the US, with multiple accusations that the extremely popular app is a national security threat and a conduit for spying by China.
“The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement.
The lawsuit said TikTok algorithms served up “abundant content depicting alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; sexual content, nudity and suggestive themes” to users as young as 13.
The state also sued TikTok for allegedly deceiving customers into believing that “reams of highly sensitive data and personal information” were protected from the Chinese government.
A TikTok spokesperson did not comment specifically on the case but said in a statement that “the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority”.
“We build youth wellbeing into our policies, limit features by age, empower parents with tools and resources, and continue to invest in new ways to enjoy content based on age-appropriateness or family comfort,” the company said.
TikTok is facing a growing front of opposition in the US, with several states and the US military banning its use on government devices.
Texas became the latest state to do so on Wednesday, when it called for “aggressive action” against TikTok.
The highly popular app is often singled out for its alleged connections to Beijing, with fears that the Chinese government is able to use TikTok’s data to track and coerce users around the world.
TikTok is currently in negotiations with the US government to resolve national security concerns, hoping to maintain its operations in one of its biggest markets.
TikTok said it was “confident that we’re on a path [...] to fully satisfy all reasonable US national security concerns”.
Its spectacular success of has seen rival sites such as Meta-owned Instagram and Snapchat struggling to keep up, with once soaring ad revenues taking a hit.
But Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last month that he was “extremely concerned” about security risks linked to TikTok.
