Indiana announces lawsuits against TikTok over privacy and content concerns

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File

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The state of Indiana is suing social media platform TikTok in two lawsuits Wednesday over concerns about data sharing and content targeting on children. The state argues that the social media app inflicts harm upon its users.

“The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” said Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

“With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law,” he said.

The first lawsuit alleges that TikTok misleads users into believing that the platform is appropriate for minors aged 13 to 17 despite presenting them with sexual content, profanity, drugs, and other mature materials.

The second lawsuit alleges that the platform has gathered personal data from Indiana residents while claiming that the data is protected from the prying eyes of the Chinese communist government, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based.

“In multiple ways, TikTok represents a clear and present danger to Hoosiers that is hiding in plain sight in their own pockets,” Rokita stated. “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. We hope these lawsuits force TikTok to come clean and change its ways.”

Through the lawsuits, Indiana seeks an emergency injunctive relief and civil penalties against the company, and joins Indiana to a growing number of states that have announced plans to take action against TikTok and ban the app from being installed on government devices.

The lawsuits come as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced his call for legislation to make the ban permanent and to broaden it.

I've banned TikTok on state issued devices.

I'm also calling for legislation to make the ban permanent and to broaden the ban.

As I detail in my letter and press release, the threat posed by the CCP through TikTok is serious and must be stopped.https://t.co/X4kkFfCDq3

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 7, 2022

“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” wrote the governor.

“While TikTok has claimed that it stores U.S. data within the U.S., the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to U.S. data. It has also been reported that ByteDance planned to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens,” he added.

On Monday, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order banning TikTok from state devices. The ban follows a similar order by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who made it a criminal offfense to download the app on a state device.