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Thursday, November 7, 2024

Attorney General Murrill joins coalition suing TikTok over consumer protection violations

State AG
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Attorney General Liz Murrill | Twitter Website

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has joined a bipartisan coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing enforcement actions against TikTok, alleging violations of state consumer protection laws. The action claims that TikTok exploits young users and misleads the public about potential dangers associated with the platform.

"‘TikTok is targeting youth with content that shocks the conscience - and it’s designed to target young people and addict them to an endless scroll of extreme content that generates massive profits," said Attorney General Murrill. "TikTok has knowingly been misleading the public about the content it’s serving up to kids. Parents deserve to know the truth and Louisiana law, at the very least, requires TikTok to stop lying. I intend to hold TikTok accountable and protect kids."

The lawsuit states that 63% of Americans aged 13 to 17 used TikTok in 2023, with most teenagers using it daily. The allegations suggest that TikTok's business model focuses on maximizing young users' time on the platform to increase revenue from targeted advertising.

Attorney General Murrill's action outlines several areas where TikTok allegedly violated Louisiana consumer protection statutes, including issues related to alcohol, tobacco, drug references, sexual content, mature themes, profanity, age ratings, deceptive representations, community guidelines adherence, addictive design features, and restricted mode settings.

Joining Louisiana in these actions are attorneys general from California, New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont Washington and the District of Columbia. In total 23 attorneys general have taken legal action against TikTok including those from Utah Nevada Indiana New Hampshire Nebraska Arkansas Iowa Kansas and Texas.

The lawsuit was filed in Louisiana's 21st Judicial District Court.

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