- Utah AG Sean D. Reyes filed a lawsuit against TikTok Inc. alleging violations of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act and seeking civil penalties, restitution, damages, and a permanent injunction barring TikTok from future UCSPA violations.
- In the complaint, AG Reyes alleges the social media company committed deceptive conduct in violation of the UCSPA in several ways: marketing an addictive product with design features intended to manipulate children; misrepresenting that its app is safe for use when it has known issues that hurt user well-being; and misleading consumers about the degree to which TikTok remains under the control of ByteDance, its China-based parent company.
- The Utah AG’s lawsuit is the latest in a string of similar AG strikes against the company. As we previously reported, Indiana AG Todd Rokita filed two lawsuits with similar allegations to those in AG Reyes’ complaint and Montana AG Austin Knudsen defended a new Montana law prohibiting TikTok from operating in the state. In addition, a coalition of 46 AGs recently filed an amicus brief seeking the company’s compliance with an ongoing investigation into whether it violated consumer protection laws.