Arkansas sues Meta and TikTok for "deceiving young users"
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was time for these large companies to pay for "pushing addictive platforms on our kids."
Arkansas has filed three lawsuits accusing Meta and TikTok of "deceiving young users." State officials, backed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, filed these actions Tuesday, asserting that these platforms violate the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by employing deceptive strategies that put both minors and the security of state residents' data at risk.
Two of the lawsuits are filed against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance. The Chinese company continues to pile up problems following its CEO's testimony before the House of Representatives and now must face two state lawsuits. In the first, Arkansas accuses the social network of being a "Trojan horse."
These practices mainly affect younger people. According to the lawsuit, "tens of millions of minors use TikTok in the United States" without realizing the dangers they are being exposed to. This is the warning from the Arkansas government:
TikTok data security under the spotlight again
The second lawsuit accuses the Beijing-based company of the same practices for which it has faced hundreds of lawsuits: compromising the security of user data:
In addition, the lawsuit also prompted the Arkansas Attorney General's Office to again accuse TikTok and especially its parent company, ByteDance, of sharing the data it collects from Americans with the Chinese Communist Party:
Meta also sued by Arkansas
Meta is also under fire. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram will face a separate lawsuit, the third filed by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. In this case, the company was accused of exacerbating the mental health crisis among American teenagers. As Griffin said in the suit, Meta creates algorithms for a specific purpose:
The document further states that the company "designs, markets, promotes and operates social media platforms for which it has especially cultivated a young audience," referring mainly to Instagram and Facebook.
These are just some of the reasons why Sarah Huckabee Sanders, per a statement, feels it is necessary to file a lawsuit against Meta, TikTok and ByteDance. This move will serve to demonstrate, as she says, that her "administration will not tolerate that failed status quo."