Lawsuits involving TikTok

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TikTok has been involved in a number of lawsuits since its founding, with a number of them relating to TikTok's data collection techniques.

Contents

Tencent lawsuits

Tencent's WeChat platform has been accused of blocking Douyin's videos. [1] [2] In April 2018, Douyin sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demanding CN¥1 million in compensation and an apology. In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit against Toutiao and Douyin in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of CN¥1 in compensation and a public apology. [3] In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedly unfair competition and asking for CN¥90 million in economic losses. [4]

Data transfer class action lawsuit

In November 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in California that alleged that TikTok transferred personally identifiable information of U.S. persons to servers located in China owned by Tencent and Alibaba. [5] [6] [7] The lawsuit also accused ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, of taking user content without their permission. The plaintiff of the lawsuit, college student Misty Hong, downloaded the app but said she never created an account. She realized a few months later that TikTok had created an account for her using her information (such as biometrics) and made a summary of her information. The lawsuit also alleged that information was sent to Chinese tech giant Baidu. [8] In July 2020, twenty lawsuits against TikTok were merged into a single class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. [9] In February 2021, TikTok agreed to pay $92 million to settle the class action lawsuit. [10] The court approved the settlement in July 2022. [11]

Inappropriate content for minors

In December 2022, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed two separate lawsuits against TikTok in the Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne, Indiana. [12] The first complaint alleged that the platform exposed inappropriate content to minors, and that TikTok "intentionally falsely reports the frequency of sexual content, nudity, and mature/suggestive themes" on their platform which made the app's "12-plus" age ratings on the Apple and Google app stores deceptive. [12] [13] The second complaint alleged TikTok does not disclose the Chinese government's potential to access sensitive consumer information. [12] [13] The two lawsuits were later consolidated and dismissed. [14] In dismissing the lawsuit in November 2023, the Superior Court cited that the court “lacks personal jurisdiction” over TikTok. [14]

In March 2024, the Italian Competition Authority fined TikTok €10 million ($11 million) for failing to prevent the spread of harmful content, including the "French scar" challenge, where users pinched their cheeks to create lasting bruises, endangering minors' safety. [15]

In June 2024,  Utah Attorney General sued TikTok in state court, accusing its livestreaming feature of enabling the sexual exploitation of children. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok Live operates like a "virtual strip club," where adults may encourage minors to perform illicit acts in exchange for monetary gifts. While TikTok does not allow users under the age of 18 to host livestreams, the lawsuit criticizes TikTok's inadequate age verification and enforcement measures, claiming they fail to ensure user safety. [16] In January 2025, Utah further alleged TikTok knowingly allows the exploitation, prioritizing profits over user safety. [17] [18]

In November 2024, a group of French families sued TikTok over exposing adolescents to harmful content, leading two to take their lives. [19] The families alleged TikTok's algorithm exposed the children to content promoting self-harm, eating disorders and suicide. [20]

In November 2024, Venezuelan families and organizations filed an appeal for protection with Venezuela's Supreme Court concerning the impact of unregulated content on TikTok. Following a hearing, the court fined TikTok $10 million on December 30, 2024, over viral video challenges that authorities say led to the deaths of three children. The court cited TikTok's negligence in failing to implement "necessary and adequate measures" to prevent the viral challenge. [21] [22] [23]

Voice actor lawsuit

In May 2021, Canadian voice actor Bev Standing filed a lawsuit against TikTok over the use of her voice in the text-to-speech feature without her permission. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York. TikTok declined to comment. Standing had taken up a contract with the Chinese government-run Institute of Acoustics narrating English for translations but says she never agreed for her voice to be used in other ways. [24] The voice used in the feature was subsequently changed. [25]

Collecting children's data

In June 2021, the Netherlands-based Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI) filed a €1.4 billion lawsuit with an Amsterdam court on behalf of Dutch parents against TikTok, alleging that the app gathers data on children without adequate permission. [26] In interlocutory judgments issued in October 2023 and January 2024, the Amsterdam District Court allowed the claims of SOMI to proceed, along with those of the Foundation Take Back Your Privacy and the Foundation Mass Damage & Consumer. [27]

On August 2, 2024, the US Department of Justice sued TikTok for allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). [28] In October 2024, Texas sued TikTok, accusing it of violating state law by sharing children's personal identifying information without consent from their parents or legal guardians. [29] In October 2024, Attorneys General of thirteen states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok over collecting children's data in violation of the federal COPPA, as well as over mental health concerns involving minors. [30] [31] In one of the lawsuits, the Attorney General of Kentucky also alleged that TikTok developed an internal strategy to use its content to influence U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and other politicians. [32] [33]

Blackout Challenge

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against TikTok, accusing the platform of hosting content that led to the death of at least seven children. [34] The lawsuits claim that children died after attempting the "Blackout challenge", a TikTok trend that involves strangling or asphyxiating someone or themselves until they black out (passing out). TikTok stated that search queries for the challenge do not show any results, linking instead to protective resources, while the parents of two of the deceased argued that the content showed up on their children's TikTok feeds, without them searching for it. [35]

In May 2022, Tawainna Anderson, the mother of a 10-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit against TikTok in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. [36] Her daughter died while attempting the Blackout Challenge on TikTok. [37] The District Court dismissed the complaint in October 2022 and held that the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230, immunizes TikTok. [37] [36] On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed and remanded the case to the lower court in August 2024, holding that Section 230 only immunizes information provided by third parties and not recommendations made by TikTok's algorithm. [38] [39]

In February 2025, the parents of four British teenagers sued TikTok in the Delaware Superior Court, alleging that their children died while attempting the "Blackout challenge." [40]

According to The Independent, the Blackout Challenge reportedly was linked to the deaths of 20 children between 2021 and 2022, 15 of whom were under the age of 12. [41]

Discrimination

In February 2024, Katie Puris, a former senior executive at TikTok filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the company, alleging discrimination based on age and gender. [42] Prior to this lawsuit, she had filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the company in May 2023, alleging discrimination and retaliation. [42]

In August 2024, Olivia Anton Altamirano, a TikTok UK content moderator, sued the social media platform and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., in the London employment tribunal, alleging disability discrimination and a toxic workplace culture that caused her stress and pregnancy complications. [43] TikTok denied the allegations. After a hearing, a UK judge allowed the case to proceed. [43]

Mental health of minors

In May 2024, the Nebraska Attorney General filed a lawsuit against TikTok for allegedly harming minors' mental health through an algorithm designed to cultivate compulsive behavior. [44]

In June 2024, the New Hampshire Attorney General filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging "false assurances of safety, while profiting from the vulnerabilities of its youngest users" in violation of the state's consumer protection laws. [45] [46] In July 2025, New Hampshire Superior Court Judge John Kissinger Jr. denied TikTok's motion to dismiss and stated that New Hampshire's allegations were valid and specific enough to proceed. [47]

In the October 2024 lawsuits filed by Attorneys General of thirteen states and the District of Columbia, the states also claimed that the TikTok app is intentionally designed to be addictive for children and harms their mental health. [30]

In January 2025, a group of French families sued TikTok France for allegedly failing to protect children from content promoting suicide methods. [48] In February 2025, a group of British families sued TikTok in the U.S. for the alleged wrongful deaths of their children. [49]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tencent and Toutiao come out swinging at each other". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  2. ↑ "Tencent sues Toutiao for alleged defamation, demands 1 yuan and apology". Today . Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Jiang, Sijia (1 June 2018). "Tencent sues Toutiao for alleged defamation, demands 1 yuan and apology". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  4. ↑ Yijun, Yin (4 June 2018). "Tencent and ByteDance Take Ongoing Feud to Court". Sixth Tone . Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "TikTok sent user data to China, US lawsuit claims". BBC News. 3 December 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Montgomery, Blake (2 December 2019). "California Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses TikTok of Illegally Harvesting Data and Sending It to China". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Chen, Angela (5 December 2019). "TikTok's second lawsuit in a week brings a US ban a shade closer". MIT Technology Review . Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  8. ↑ Narendra, Meera (4 December 2019). "#Privacy: TikTok found secretly transferring user data to China". gdpr.report. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  9. ↑ Allyn, Bobby (4 August 2020). "Class-Action Lawsuit Claims TikTok Steals Kids' Data And Sends It To China". NPR. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Allyn, Bobby (25 February 2021). "TikTok To Pay $92 Million To Settle Class-Action Suit Over 'Theft' Of Personal Data". NPR. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  11. ↑ "In Re: TikTok, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation, No. 1:2020cv04699 - Document 161 (N.D. Ill. 2021)". Justia Law. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  12. 1 2 3 McDaniel, Justine. "Indiana sues TikTok, claiming it exposes children to harmful content". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  13. 1 2 "TikTok sued by Indiana over security and safety concerns". BBC News. 8 December 2022. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  14. 1 2 "Indiana judge dismisses state's lawsuit against TikTok that alleged child safety, privacy concerns". AP News. 2023-11-29. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  15. ↑ Linford, Maisie; Cooban, Anna (March 14, 2024). "Italy fines TikTok $11 million for failing to protect minors". CNN. Archived from the original on January 6, 2025. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  16. ↑ Duffy, Clare (June 3, 2024). "New Utah lawsuit claims TikTok Live feature puts children at risk". CNN. Archived from the original on June 7, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  17. ↑ Stempel, Jonathan (January 3, 2025). "TikTok knew its livestreams exploit children, Utah lawsuit claims". Reuters . Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  18. ↑ Levine, Alexandra (January 3, 2025). "TikTok's Live Video Feature 'Groomed' Minors, Utah AG Claims". Bloomberg News . Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  19. ↑ "French families sue TikTok over alleged failure to remove harmful content". Reuters . November 4, 2024. Archived from the original on November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  20. ↑ Armstrong, Kathryn (November 4, 2024). "French families sue TikTok over harmful content". BBC News . Archived from the original on November 11, 2024. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  21. ↑ Roberts, Brant (2024-11-22). "Venezuela's Supreme Court Holds Hearing on Appeal for Protection from Social Media 'Viral Challenges'". Orinoco Tribune. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  22. ↑ kwjorinoco (2024-11-27). "Venezuela's Supreme Court to Summon Officials of TikTok Latin America for Spreading Dangerous Viral Challenges". Orinoco Tribune. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  23. ↑ "Venezuela fines TikTok over deadly viral challenges". Deutsche Welle. 2024-12-31. Archived from the original on 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  24. ↑ Dunne, James (12 May 2021). "Why a Canadian actor is suing social media giant TikTok's parent company". CBC News. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  25. ↑ Kastrenakes, Jacob (25 May 2021). "TikTok changes text-to-speech voice after voice actor sues". The Verge. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  26. ↑ Culatto, John (2 June 2021). "Dutch parents sue TikTok for €1.4 billion". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  27. ↑ "WAMCA case: SOMI v TikTok". ploum.nl. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  28. ↑ Duffy, Clare (2 August 2024). "US government sues TikTok for allegedly violating children's privacy law | CNN Business". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  29. ↑ Stempel, Jonathan; Shepardson, David (October 3, 2024). "Texas sues TikTok for violating children's privacy". Reuters . Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  30. 1 2 "TikTok is designed to be addictive to kids and causes them harm, US states' lawsuits say". Associated Press. 2024-10-08. Archived from the original on 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
  31. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (2024-10-08). "TikTok hit by over a dozen state lawsuits for allegedly harming teens". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  32. ↑ Goodman, Sylvia (October 18, 2024). "Kentucky TikTok suit says company considered using Ky. creators to sway Sen. Mitch McConnell". NPR. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  33. ↑ Goodman, Sylvia (2024-10-18). "Kentucky TikTok suit says company considered using Ky. creators to sway Sen. Mitch McConnell". NPR. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  34. ↑ Carville, Olivia (30 November 2022). "TikTok's Viral Challenges Keep Luring Young Kids to Their Deaths". Bloomberg Businessweek . Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  35. ↑ Clark, Mitchell (7 July 2022). "The TikTok 'blackout challenge' has now allegedly killed seven kids". The Verge. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  36. 1 2 "ANDERSON v. TIKTOK, INC., 2:22-cv-01849 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  37. 1 2 Pierson, Brendan (October 27, 2022). "TikTok immune from lawsuit over girl's death from 'blackout challenge' -judge". Reuters. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  38. ↑ Raymond, Nate (August 28, 2024). "TikTok must face lawsuit over 10-year-old girl's death, US court rules". Reuters. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  39. ↑ "Anderson v. TikTok Inc, No. 22-3061 (3d Cir. 2024)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  40. ↑ "TikTok sued by parents of UK teens after alleged challenge deaths". BBC. 2025-02-07. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  41. ↑ "TikTok's 'blackout' challenge linked to deaths of 20 children in 18 months – report". The Independent. 2022-12-01. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  42. 1 2 "Former TikTok executive sues the company for alleged gender and age discrimination". CNN. February 9, 2024. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  43. 1 2 Trivedi, Upmanyu (2024-08-28). "TikTok Sued in UK by Content Moderator Alleging Toxic Workplace". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
  44. ↑ De Avila, Joseph (May 22, 2024). "Nebraska Sues TikTok for Allegedly Harming Minors" . The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  45. ↑ "NH files lawsuit against TikTok, alleging deceptive practices and manipulation of kids". New Hampshire Public Radio. 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  46. ↑ Merrill, Scott (2024-08-20). "New Hampshire Sues TikTok: Social Media and the Mental Health of Children". New Hampshire Bar Association. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  47. ↑ Vallese, Zach (2025-07-11). "TikTok loses bid to dismiss lawsuit alleging its 'addictive design' exploits kids". CNBC. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  48. ↑ Nouvian, Tom (2025-01-23). "Families sue TikTok in France over teen suicides they say are linked to harmful content". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2025-01-25. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
  49. ↑ "Parents suing TikTok over children's deaths say it 'has no compassion'". BBC News . 2025-02-08. Retrieved 2025-02-09.

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