North Carolina attorney general sues TikTok, ByteDance

(The Center Square) – TikTok, popular short-form social media video site with parent company headquartered in China, is being sued by the North Carolina attorney general.

Josh Stein, also a candidate for governor, in the lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, monetary relief, and asks a Wake County Superior Court to order TikTok to stop unlawful actions and pay penalties. North Carolina as a state is the plaintiff and defendants are five companies representative of TikTok and two of ByteDance.

““They did this to make more money,” Stein said of what he believes are business practices harmful to children. “It doesn’t matter what you’re selling – you have to be honest about the risks, and you have to follow the law. TikTok failed in both regards, and our children suffer. So, I’m taking them to court to make them do better by our kids.”

Stein says the app is designed to be addictive . For example, the features include infinite scroll, autoplay, likes, filters, algorithmic recommendations, notifications, and alerts.

He said saying the app was “safe for kids” when executives and employees “admitted that they knew TikTok addicts and harms children” is an act of misrepresentation. He said the safety guidelines are a deception to parents and the public.

In a release, Stein said, “Those features did not work as advertised.”

TikTok has about 1.6 billion active users monthly. Only Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram have more, according to a Charle Agency report from September. ByteDance is the parent company and launched the platform in 2017. Thehinese-specific companion is Douyin.

According to a release, Stein says attorneys general joining in the filing represent New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, California, and the District of Columbia.

Previously, Stein filed a 2023 lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook. In that case, he also said the platform tries “to hook kids,” the release said.