United States of America: Announced lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance regarding alleged illegal data-sharing practices (Case No. 70Cv-23-135)

On 28 March 2023, Arkansas's Attorney General (AG) filed a lawsuit against TikTok Inc., TikTok PTE Ltd., ByteDance Inc., and ByteDance Ltd. The lawsuit alleges that the platform misleads its users about the safety protocols it implements to safeguard personal data collected. Furthermore, the AG claims that TikTok's statements that it is not subject to Chinese law and does not share its data with Chinese officials are "false, deceptive, and misleading". The AG asked the court for a permanent injunction to require TikTok to stop issuing deceptive statements regarding its data privacy policy, to order TikTok to delete the data and content it has collected on Arkansas residents and impose civil penalties for false statements.