Cleburne County Judge Denies TikTok’s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit

Decency, Social Media,

Last week Cleburne County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer denied a motion by TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, which had asked the judge to dismiss a lawsuit against the social media giant.

The decision means Attorney General Tim Griffin’s lawsuit against TikTok can proceed.

With an estimated one billion users worldwide and some 135 million in the U.S., TikTok is among the most popular social media platforms on earth. However, last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed two lawsuits accusing TikTok of violating Arkansas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit in Cleburne County Circuit Court alleges TikTok violated the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by promoting “intensely sexualized” content — including content that sexualizes children — on its platform.

TikTok markets its app as being appropriate for children, but once they are on the TikTok app, TikTok’s algorithm “force-feeds” many children a non-stop diet of objectionable content.

Some of the objectionable content that the A.G. says TikTok promotes to children includes:

  • Content depicting alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
  • Sexual content
  • Nudity
  • Suggestive themes
  • Violence
  • Intense profanity and obscenity

The lawsuit also alleges much of this content is available to teenagers even when using the app’s Restricted Mode that is intended to filter inappropriate material.

The A.G. notes that TikTok’s algorithm actually promotes this content regardless of the user’s age — meaning that many children using TikTok may be exposed to this type of material without necessarily searching for it.

The lawsuit alleges that TikTok has downplayed just how prevalent this type of material is on its platform and has deceptively labeled the app as being appropriate for ages 13 and up when TikTok really should be rated 17+.

TikTok has tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, saying that state court isn’t the proper jurisdiction for suing the company and claiming the A.G.’s team did not adequately argue its claims about deceptive trade practices.

But Judge Meyer rejected these arguments — meaning the lawsuit can move forward.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance has struggled to protect private user data from entities in China, and the platform has faced criticism for letting its algorithm serve users what some call a steady “diet of darkness” online.

As U.S. Congressman Bruce Westerman wrote in March,

Although TikTok executives claim that it does not share any data collected by the app, there are several Chinese laws in place that provide CCP [Chinese Communist Party] officials access to all user data collected by Chinese-owned tech companies, like TikTok. This means the CCP has access to sensitive data, like the location of every TikTok user worldwide, including the over 210 million Americans who have downloaded the app.

In April, President Biden signed a bipartisan piece of legislation requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent-company, ByteDance, to divest itself of the platform by January 19, 2025. If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok, the law would ban TikTok in the United States.

TikTok is suing to have that law struck down in court.

As we have said repeatedly, there is mounting evidence that — by design — social media platforms like TikTok may deliberately push objectionable content to kids and put users’ personal information at risk. With that in mind, it’s good to see policymakers taking action to rein in these tech giants.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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JPMorgan Chase Changes Policy That Led to Politicized Debanking of Conservatives

Religious Freedom, , , ,

On Tuesday Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase changed a policy that had contributed to politicized debanking of conservative organizations.

Family Council has written repeatedly about how politicized debanking by JPMorgan Chase and others has hurt charities and people of faith.

In 2021, our credit card processor, WePay — a company owned by JPMorgan Chase — canceled our account with virtually no notice and no explanation. We eventually learned WePay had designated us a “high risk” client.

The only conclusion we could draw was that our conservative principles prompted the cancelation.

Reuters reports that JPMorgan Chase has changed WePay’s policy, writing,

An archived webpage shows that as recently as August, merchants using JPMorgan’s WePay service had to agree to not accept payments or use the service in connection with “social risk issues.” The bank defined those as “subject to allegation and impacts related to hate groups, systemic racism, sexual harassment and corporate culture.”

That language no longer appears on the WePay terms of service

This language about “social risk issues” and “hate groups” likely could have been used by WePay to debank legitimate, conservative groups.

Corporate shareholders, state attorneys general, congressmen, and news outlets all have expressed concerns over conservatives being wrongly labeled as “high risk” or “hate groups” and subsequently debanked as a result of policies like this one. This policy change by JPMorgan’s WePay is a remarkable step forward.

Banks that are too big to fail should also be too big to discriminate. Nobody should have their bank account closed for what they believe.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Planned Parenthood Criticizes Arkansas Legislature for Providing $2M to Support Pregnancy Centers, Maternal Wellness

Abortion, , , ,

On Tuesday the organization Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) criticizing the Arkansas Legislature for providing $2 million to support pregnancy help organizations and maternal and infant wellness in Arkansas.

In April the Arkansas Legislature passed — and Gov. Sanders signed — S.B. 64 by Sen. John Payton (R – Wilburn). This good budget measure provides $2 million in state grant funding for pregnancy help organizations.

The $2 million will be disbursed as grants to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other organizations that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

This funding helps serve families at the local level without creating new government programs. The State of Arkansas is expected to start accepting grant applications from pregnancy help organizations in the coming months.

In 2022 and in 2023 Family Council worked with lawmakers and the governor to create this grant program for pregnancy help organizations. Since then more than two dozen good organizations across the state have applied for funding and used it to give women and families real assistance when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

S.B. 64 makes improvements to the grant program. It increases state funding from $1 million per year to $2 million. This puts Arkansas’ funding on parr with funding in other states.

The law also clarifies that “pregnancy help organizations” include nonprofit organizations that promote infant and maternal wellness and reduce infant and maternal mortality by:

  • Providing nutritional information and/or nutritional counseling;
  • Providing prenatal vitamins;
  • Providing a list of prenatal medical care options;
  • Providing social, emotional, and/or material support; or
  • Providing referrals for WIC and community-based nutritional services, including but not limited to food banks, food pantries, and food distribution centers.

S.B. 64 also includes language preventing state funds from going to abortionists and their affiliates.

However, Planned Parenthood criticized the funding measure, posting,

There simply shouldn’t be anything controversial about the State of Arkansas awarding taxpayer funds to organizations that provide material support to women and children and that promote maternal wellness.

Fortunately, Arkansas’ lawmakers and governor don’t agree with Planned Parenthood.

Family Council is grateful to the General Assembly for passing S.B. 64, and we appreciate Governor Sanders signing it into law. We look forward to seeing the state implement S.B. 64 in the coming fiscal year.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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