Arkansas has taken legal action against TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta, filing a lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging that the social media companies are deceiving users about protecting children on platforms , as well as protecting their data.
See also: France: Ban on TikTok and other apps on government devices
To combat alleged violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the state of Arkansas took action by filing two separate lawsuits against TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, as well as a third lawsuit against Meta for owning Instagram.
“TikTok is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” claims one of the lawsuits filed in state court. “As long as TikTok is allowed to deceive and mislead Arkansas consumers about the risks to data , those consumers and their privacy are easy prey.”
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin, both Republicans, have taken legal action against TikTok in response to growing concerns about the security of user data. In a joint warning, the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission expressed concern that ByteDance may be sharing TikTok user data with the Chinese government.
See also: New Zealand: TikTok ban on government devices
As soon as Governor Sanders was officially sworn into office in January, she quickly signed an executive order banning the use of TikTok on government devices.
In one of the lawsuits, it is alleged that TikTok has failed to take appropriate measures to protect minors on its platform from inappropriate material, including sexual content and depictions of drugs or alcohol consumption.
In a formal complaint, Meta is accused of exploiting Facebook to increase the time young people spend on its platform. The charges also say that this activity contributed to mental health problems among teenagers in the state.
Last year, Indiana sued TikTok for misleading users, especially children. It alleged that the app misled them about the levels of inappropriate material and how secure their users’ data was. In January, the Seattle school district sued the major tech companies behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube , and Snapchat, alleging they were responsible for the mental health crisis among young people.
See also: Meta layoffs: Another 10,000 employees lose their jobs
Last week, Utah made history by becoming the first state to implement certain rules. However, experts are skeptical about how feasible these regulations are and what potential knock-on effects they could have.
