Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing TikTok, alleging that the social media platform lies to parents about the inappropriate content present on the app.
“TikTok has kept parents in the dark,” Bird said in a press release. “It’s time we shine a light on TikTok for exposing young children to graphic materials such as sexual content, self-harm, illegal drug use, and worse. TikTok has sneaked past parental blocks by misrepresenting the severity of its content. But no longer. As a mom and prosecutor, I am committed to equipping parents with information to keep their kids safe and to holding TikTok accountable.”
According to the lawsuit, TikTok carries a 12+ age rating, although it frequently contains nudity, profanity, mature themes, and drug use.
“TikTok’s deception violates the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act,” the press release adds. “The lawsuit aims to stop TikTok from misleading parents and users about the availability of inappropriate content on the app. It also challenges TikTok’s misleading statements about TikTok’s parental controls, both in the platform’s Community Guidelines and in the Google and Microsoft app stores.”
The lawsuit states, “If TikTok correctly rated its app, it would receive a ’17+’ age rating, and parental restrictions on phones would prevent many kids from downloading it.”
Utah also launched a lawsuit against the social media platform in October.
“After extensive investigation, the state alleges the social media giant illegally baits children into addictive and unhealthy use, blatantly misrepresents the app’s safety, and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its China-based parent company ByteDance,” the press release says.
“We will no longer tolerate TikTok misleading parents that its app is safe for children,” Cox said. “Social media companies must be held responsible for the harms they are causing. The experts — from the U.S. Surgeon General and behavioral science researchers to parents and teens — all agree that social media is affecting our children’s mental health and it’s time to intervene.”
“Like a slot machine, users swipe down’ on the app to load more videos continuously, each new video requiring only a small investment of their time, and the user is excited for each new video by the possibility that it might be incredibly rewarding,” the lawsuit reads. “This pattern keeps users engaged, constantly anticipating that dopamine rush.”
