Arkansas Circuit Court Deals Another Blow to TikTok

Social Media,

This week an Arkansas circuit court dealt another blow against social media giant TikTok.

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

One of the lawsuits — filed in Cleburne County — alleges the social media giant violated the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by promoting “intensely sexualized” content — including content that sexualizes children — on its platform.

The other lawsuit — filed in Union County — alleges that TikTok failed to fully disclose that the platform is subject to Chinese law — including “laws that mandate secret cooperation with intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China.”

The Union County lawsuit also alleges that TikTok “routinely exposes Arkansas consumers’ data, without their knowledge, to access and exploitation by the Chinese Government and Communist Party” and that “TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has admitted to using data gathered through TikTok to surveil Americans.”

On Monday, the Union County Circuit Judge denied TikTok’s request to dismiss the lawsuit — meaning the A.G.’s legal team can continue pursuing legal action against the platform.

In a statement, Attorney General Griffin said, “I applaud the court’s decision to allow our lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance to proceed. This marks the third time this year that a lawsuit I have brought against a social media platform has cleared this important legal hurdle.”

Social media platforms aren’t just websites. These are multimillion dollar businesses owned and operated by investors and other interests.

As we have said before, there’s mounting evidence that social media platforms like TikTok put users’ personal information at risk and are actually designed to push objectionable content to users.

With that in mind, it’s good to see the A.G.’s office taking action to protect Arkansans online.

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

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Arkansas Finishes Awarding $1M to Pregnancy Help Organizations for FY 2024

Abortion, , ,

Last month the State of Arkansas finished awarding one million dollars to charities that support women and families with unplanned pregnancies.

Act 622 of 2023 by Sen. Scott Flippo (R – Bull Shoals) and Rep. Lane Jean (R – Magnolia) authorized $1 million in state-funded grants for crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and social services agencies that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

This grant funding provides women and families with pro-life alternatives to abortion.

The measure directed the Department of Finance and Administration to distribute the state-funded grants to these pregnancy help organizations by June 30, 2024.

As of June 30, the State of Arkansas successfully distributed $999,999.77 to pregnancy help organizations for Fiscal Year 2024.

This money will help families, and it will have a tremendous, pro-life impact across the state.

Now that abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, we need to support women and families and eliminate the demand for abortion. This grant funding  does that. It provides women in Arkansas with actual pro-life options — meaning they are less likely to travel out of state for abortion.

In April, Governor Sanders signed a budget measure providing $2 million to support pregnancy help organizations and maternal and infant wellness in Arkansas for the state’s 2025 fiscal year — which began on Monday.

Besides increasing the grant funding from $1 million to $2 million, the new and improved budget measure 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.

The measure includes language preventing state funds from going to abortionists and their affiliates.

The funding will provide additional grants to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other organizations that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies in the coming months.

This is something all Arkansans should be proud of. Family Council is grateful to the General Assembly and Governor Sanders for supporting pro-life charities that serve women and families in Arkansas.

Below is a list of pregnancy help organizations that received grant funding in fiscal year 2024.

Resource CenterDoing Business AsGrant Amount
INFORMED CHOICES WOMENS CENTER OF THE OZ$73,246.90
NEW BEGINNINGS PREGNANCY CENTER$49,009.95
PATHWAY RESOURCE CENTER$41,239.95
ST BERNARDS HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDAT$41,039.95
HOPEPLACE – FORDYCE$41,039.95
HOPEPLACE NEWPORT$41,039.95
CRADLE THE MATERNITY SUPPORT CENTER OF CKATHLEEN BLOSSOM$41,039.95
PLUM FOUNDATIONPEACE LOVE UNDERSTANDING MERCY$41,039.95
ABBA CHARITIES INC$41,039.95
COMPASSION MINISTRIES LTD$41,039.95
OPEN ARMS PREGNANCY CENTER INC$41,039.95
ST FRANCIS HOUSE NWA INCCOMMUNITY CLINIC$41,039.95
ST JOSEPHS HELPERS OF PULASKI COUNTYARKANSAS PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER$41,039.95
PREGNANCY HELP CENTERPREGNANCY HELP CLINIC$40,995.95
PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER FOR SOUTHWEST$40,958.95
CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER OF CENTRAL ARKANCARING HEARTS PREGNANCY CENTER$40,501.95
BAPTIST HEALTH FOUNDATION$40,039.95
SOUTH ARKANSAS CARING PREGNANCY CENTERHANNAH PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER$38,078.95
HEART TO HEART PREGNANCY SUPPORT CENTER$38,035.46
CHANGEPOINT PREGNANCY CARE AND PARENTING$34,714.95
HOPEPLACE MONTICELLO$34,532.95
HOPE OF THE DELTA CENTER$32,904.51
ARKANSAS BAPTIST CHILDRENS HOMES AND FAMLIVING WELL COUNSELING$24,891.45
FORT SMITH CHRISTIAN FAMILY SERVICES INC1ST CHOICE PREGNANCY MEDICAL CENTER$24,810.45
LIFES CHOICE PREGNANCY CARE CENTER$24,380.00
HOPES FIRST CHOICE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CE$11,257.95
Total$999,999.77

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

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