Last week the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Attorney General Tim Griffin’s lawsuit against social media giant TikTok can move forward.
In March of 2023 the Arkansas Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against Chinese-based company ByteDance — the corporation that owns TikTok — in Cleburne County Circuit Court.
With upwards of a billion users worldwide — including somewhere between 135 and 170 million in the U.S. — TikTok is among the most popular social media outlets on earth.
But TikTok isn’t just a phone app. It’s a major corporation, and its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, has been valued at $300 billion.
However, TikTok has found itself embroiled in controversy for struggling to protect private user data from entities in China — including the Chinese Communist Party.
The platform also has been accused of serving users a steady “diet of darkness” and violating laws intended to protect children online.
Attorney General Griffin’s lawsuit alleges TikTok violated Arkansas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act by falsely claiming that graphic and mature content on its platform is appropriate for teens. The lawsuit also calls the TikTok app “a Chinese ‘Trojan Horse’ unleashed on unsuspecting American consumers.”
Attorneys for TikTok have worked relentlessly to have the lawsuit dismissed, but last Thursday the Arkansas Supreme Court declined to put the case on hold — meaning the A.G.’s office is free to pursue it.
As we keep saying, social media platforms are not just websites or phone apps. These are major corporations owned and operated by investors and other interests. If the Chinese Communist Party can influence TikTok, the CCP may be able to manipulate content, influence users, and harvest data on one of the world’s largest social media platforms. That’s a serious concern, and we appreciate Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin taking a firm stand in court.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
