Indiana AG Sues TikTok Twice as Texas Joins the Call to Ban App From State-Issued Devices

TikTok is dealing with rising scrutiny from varied U.S. political officers. Amidst an ongoing name from state leaders to ban the app from state authorities gadgets, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has introduced that the state has filed two lawsuits in opposition to the social media platform.

Rokita introduced the lawsuits in a press release, calling the app “a clear and present danger.” The first of the 2 lawsuits—which have been each filed yesterday—is predicated on the advantage that TikTok encourages underage customers to make use of the app underneath the pretense that there’s solely delicate suggestive content material involving sexual conditions, medicine, and profanity. “In order to lure these children onto its platform, TikTok makes a variety of misleading representations and omissions to claim a 12+ rating on the Apple App Store and a ‘T’ for ‘Teen’ rating in the Google Play Store and the Microsoft Store,” the lawsuit alleges.

The second lawsuit is extra essential of TikTok’s tendency to scrape delicate person information, which is saved by mother or father firm ByteDance. The lawsuit alleges that since this firm is predicated in China, it’s compelled to cooperate with the Chinese authorities, and signifies that the Chinese authorities may have entry to all person information gleaned from the app.

“TikTok’s statements and omissions paint a picture for Indiana consumers that there is minimal risk of the Chinese Government and/or Communist Party, which controls the government, accessing and exploiting their data,” the go well with argues. “These statements are false, deceptive, and misleading. “

“The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” Attorney General Rokita mentioned in a press launch. “With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law.”

These lawsuits come as Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced yesterday an order to ban TikTok on all state-owned gadgets. Abbott wrote in a letter to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker of the Texas House of Representative Dade Phelan, and state company leaders:

Effective instantly, I’ve ordered each state company in Texas to ban TikTok on any stateissued gadgets. In addition, I’ve given the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Department of Information Resources till January 15, 2023, to develop a mannequin plan that state businesses can deploy with respect to the usage of TikTok on private gadgets. Each state company will then have till February 15, 2023, to implement its personal coverage governing the usage of TikTok on private gadgets, topic to approval by the DPS Cyber Security division.

Indiana’s lawsuits and Texas’ ban of the app pile on to a rising name from different state leaders to ban the social media platform. South Dakota’s Governor first referred to as for the app to be banned from state-issued gadgets late final month. Other states have adopted South Dakota’s lead, like South Carolina and Maryland, whose respective governors introduced a ban of the app on authorities gadgets earlier this week.