TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zhi Chu spoke at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, “TikTok: How Congress can protect data privacy in the United States,” as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app on Capitol Hill. “Can we protect our children from online harm?”Washington, USA, March 23, 2023….Obtain License Rights
Oct 10 (Reuters) – Utah on Tuesday accused Chinese-owned app TikTok of harming children by intentionally forcing young users to spend unhealthy amounts of time on the short video-sharing platform. did.
The Utah lawsuit is the latest lawsuit challenging the popular app in the U.S., and comes as Congress has been considering for months a bill that would allow the Biden administration to limit or ban TikTok over concerns about possible spying. It was conducted.
“What these children (and their parents) don’t know”
It’s because TikTok lies to them about the app’s safety and uses them to coerce them, despite how badly it’s affecting their mental health, physical development, family, and social lives. “This means that they are checking the app or letting them watch it.” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a filing.
Bytedance-owned TikTok, which has more than 150 million users in the U.S., denied it was improperly using U.S. data and had no immediate comment.
The lawsuit filed in state court by Utah states that these videos “utilize extremely powerful algorithms and manipulative design features, many of which mimic the functionality of slot machines.” “The result of these manipulative tactics is that young consumers are hooked.”
In addition to civil penalties, Utah is also seeking an injunction to prohibit TikTok from violating state laws that protect consumers from deceptive business practices.
Utah’s lawsuit is similar to one filed by Indiana against TikTok in December. That lawsuit is pending in state court.
The state of Arkansas also sued both TikTok and Facebook’s parent company Meta (META.O) in March for “promoting addictive platforms.”
On Thursday, a judge is scheduled to hear arguments in a TikTok lawsuit seeking to halt Montana’s first state ban on TikTok before it goes into effect on Jan. 1. The Montana Legislature passed a bill banning TikTok, citing spying concerns.
Last year, a group of Republican lawmakers said that “too many children are being exposed to a nonstop barrage of inappropriate content forced into them by TikTok’s algorithm.”
Reporting by David Shepherdson.Editing: Rod Nickell
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