Indiana is suing TikTok over claims it misled users about child safety and data security
- Indiana's Attorney General has filed two lawsuits against TikTok.
- The lawsuits center on the safety of user data and the treatment of younger users.
Indiana's Attorney General has filed two lawsuits against TikTok over the safety of users' data and the platform's treatment of young users.
One of the lawsuits alleges that TikTok promotes content to young users that isn't age-appropriate, per court documents.
Indiana's Attorney General, Todd Rokita, accused TikTok of exposing children "to drug use, alcohol abuse, profanity and sexually explicit material at a young age," The Wall Street Journal reported.
The lawsuit also accused TikTok of falsely claiming it was appropriate for users between 13 and 17 years old, per a media release issued by Rokita.
The other lawsuit alleged that users' data can be accessed by Chinese authorities.
The lawsuit claimed that TikTok had deceived consumers to believe that highly sensitive information was "protected from the Chinese government and Communist Party," per the release.
"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," Rokita said.
"With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law."
A spokesperson for TikTok told Insider: "The safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority. We build youth well-being into our policies, limit features by age, empower parents with tools and resources, and continue to invest in new ways to enjoy content based on age-appropriateness or family comfort."
"We are also confident that we're on a path in our negotiations with the US government to fully satisfy all reasonable US national security concerns, and we have already made significant strides toward implementing those solutions."
TikTok declined to comment directly on the litigation.