Ind. AG Sues TikTok Twice Over Privacy, Content Issues

Indiana filed two lawsuits against TikTok Wednesday seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties. The first complaint at the Indiana Superior Court of Allen County claims the Chinese-owned social media network lured children with misleading representations it had appropriate content, the attorney general's office said. The second lawsuit at the same court claims TikTok keeps highly sensitive and personal information about Indiana consumers and says the company deceived consumers to believe it's protected from the Chinese government. “At the very least, the company owes consumers the truth about the age-appropriateness of its content and the insecurity of the data it collects on users,” said AG Todd Rokita (R). “We hope these lawsuits force TikTok to come clean and change its ways.” Other Republican governors recently banned TikTok usage by state agencies (see 2212070033). Though TikTok doesn't comment on pending litigation, "the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority," emailed a TikTok spokesperson. "We build youth well-being 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. We are also confident that we're on a path in our negotiations with the U.S. Government to fully satisfy all reasonable U.S. national security concerns, and we have already made significant strides toward implementing those solutions."