Iowa sues TikTok for 'lying' about being safe for teens but blacks out large parts of suit
Social media phenomenon TikTok is lying to parents when it purports to be safe for children ages 13 and older, Iowa says in a new lawsuit.
Attorney General Brenna Bird announced the suit, filed Wednesday in Polk County District Court, with a statement accusing TikTok of "keeping parents in the dark."
"It’s time we shine a light on TikTok for exposing young children to graphic materials such as sexual content, self-harm, illegal drug use, and worse. … As a mom and prosecutor, I am committed to equipping parents with information to keep their kids safe and to holding TikTok accountable,” Bird said.
Yet Bird is trying to keep portions of her own suit under wraps, redacting large portions that she is asking the court to keep under seal to protect "confidential information gleaned from the state’s investigation of defendants."
TikTok has been the focus of consumer-protection complaints and investigations from numerous states, including a letter signed by Bird and 45 other attorneys general in March 2023 demanding the company comply with a multistate investigation. But Wednesday's lawsuit is brought by Iowa alone, relying solely on Iowa's Consumer Fraud Act.
Iowa is seeking a court order forcing TikTok to change its age rating and associated language on the Apple, Google and Microsoft app stores and in the app's community guidelines, as well as seeking civil penalties and financial damages.
In an emailed statement, TikTok said it has "industry leading safeguards in place for young people, including parental controls and time limits for those under 18. We are committed to tackling industry wide challenges and will continue to prioritize community safety."
What Iowa's lawsuit against TikTok says
The unredacted portion of the suit focuses on how TikTok is listed in various app marketplaces.
On Apple's App Store, for example, TikTok self-reports that the app contains "infrequent/mild" content in the categories of "Profanity or Crude Humor," "Mature/Suggestive Themes;" "Sexual Content and Nudity" and "Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References."
These answers allow TikTok to list itself as "12+," the lowest age safety rating on the App Store, despite what Iowa says is guidance from Apple that apps with user-generated content "should share the age rating of the highest age rated creator content available in the app," and that app developers are responsible for complying with local requirements in any territory where the app is available.
TikTok is similarly listed as "T for Teen" on Microsoft and Google platforms.
In each case, Bird alleges, TikTok's answers are untrue; a user who self-reports their age as 13 will be shown content on all of these subjects, even without searching for it via TikTok's algorithm.
The lawsuit cites viral TikTok videos containing explicit song lyrics, recipes for alcoholic drinks, tips for using marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms, sexual content (including ways around TikTok's filters against hard pornography), domestic violence, and discussions of suicide attempts and eating disorders, among other objectionable material. Additional harmful content is broadcast to minors over the TikTok Live streaming feature, the suit claims.
TikTok also offers a "Restricted Mode" that purportedly excludes mature content. A heavily redacted portion of the complaint claims that Restricted Mode "does not work and has never worked the way TikTok claims it does" and that TikTok misleads parents to believe the mode meaningfully restricts access to mature content. TikTok also claims that such content is against its community guidelines, but fails to remove it when it is posted, Bird alleges.
"Parents deserve to know the truth about the TikTok app," Bird argues in the complaint. "Iowa law requires TikTok to stop lying to them about it."
Free speech advocate calls lawsuit a 'gimmick'
Other social media companies, notably Facebook parent company Meta, have faced lawsuits alleging their services illegally target underage users, but it's not clear if there have been any similar lawsuits addressing the apps' child safety labeling practices.
There are precedents, however, for governments challenging age ratings on movies and video games, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. FIRE Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere, who reviewed the lawsuit at the Register's request, called the case a "gimmick."
"Various levels of government have tried things like this before, first with movie and TV ratings and later with video games," he said in an emailed statement. "When movie ratings first came out, numerous local governments tried to use those ratings as a designation of whether certain content was age-appropriate under the law. Those attempts inevitably ran into First Amendment problems, as will this suit."
Other legal challenges facing social media
Under Tom Miller, Bird's longtime predecessor, Iowa was one of 48 states and territories to sue Facebook in 2020 on antitrust grounds, but that case was dismissed by the court.
More recently, 40 states sued Facebook parent company Meta last year, alleging that Facebook and Instagram are designed in ways the company knows are addictive and damaging to teens. Iowa is not part of those lawsuits.
Snap Inc., maker of Snapchat, is facing multiple lawsuits accusing the company of facilitating drug sales, including the sale of fentanyl-laced drugs that caused a Des Moines woman's death.
Iowa legislators last year considered, but did not pass, a bill that would have required "verifiable parental consent" for children to have social media accounts.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
Editor's note: the court filing embedded in this article contains language that may offend some readers.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa sues TikTok for 'lying' about being kid-safe, redacts parts of suit
