Iowa attorney general sues TikTok over content for kids

DES MOINES — Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird sued the popular social media app TikTok on Wednesday, alleging the app is "misleading parents" by hosting sexual content and profanity while maintaining a "12+" rating on Apple's App Store.

Bird argues in the lawsuit that TikTok misrepresents the availability and volume of sexually explicit content, profanity and content relating to drug use on the app.

"TikTok has sneaked past parental blocks by misrepresenting the severity of its content," Bird said in a statement. "But no longer. As a mom and prosecutor, I am committed to equipping parents with information to keep their kids safe and to holding TikTok accountable.”

The 61-page lawsuit is redacted in many places because it includes details about an investigation into the app by Bird's office, according to court records. It was filed in Polk County District Court.

In the explanation of TikTok's "12+" rating, the Apple App Store says it includes "infrequent/mild" profanity or crude humor, sexual content and nudity, and mature/suggestive themes.

TikTok was the most downloaded app in 2022, and it has more than 140 million U.S. users. Billions of videos are uploaded to the app each year.

It has a content moderation process that includes automated reviews of uploaded videos and human moderation.

According to the community guidelines, content not allowed on TikTok includes violence and hateful behavior, harassment and bullying, nudity and sexually explicit content, and graphic content.

TikTok requires that a person be 13 to use the app, and it has an age-restricted mode for people under 18. Its website says it limits "overtly mature content" for minors.

"TikTok has industry leading safeguards in place for young people, including parental controls and time limits for those under 18," a TikTok spokesperson said in an email. "We are committed to tackling industry wide challenges and will continue to prioritize community safety."

But Bird's lawsuit argues those content moderation policies are not enforced properly. The lawsuit alleges the age-restricted mode restricts very little content, and videos violating the policies are easily accessible by someone as young as 13.

"The Community Guidelines are misrepresentations, deceptions, and false promises because they mislead many users by creating a net impression that these kinds of content are unavailable on TikTok and, in particular, that they are unavailable to minors," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the state used a test account to find videos that would be available to a minor on the app. The state says they viewed content with profane song lyrics, references to alcohol and drugs, and videos of women dancing in bikinis.

The state also said videos referencing suicide and eating disorders were presented on the test account's For You Page, the home page on the app.

The lawsuit argues the alleged misrepresentation of the app's content leads parents to unwittingly allow their children to use the app without knowing the content available.

Parents often use parental controls to restrict apps with mature ratings for their children, the lawsuit argues, and TikTok's rating allows it to be downloaded in those cases.

The lawsuit argues TikTok is intentionally misrepresenting its content in violation of the state's Consumer Fraud Act. The state is asking the court to grant financial compensation and block TikTok from engaging in deceptive practices.

TikTok has long been under scrutiny by government regulators over concerns about its impact on children's mental health and its ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese media conglomerate.

Bird joined a multistate effort last year to investigate the company and its impact on children's mental health, as well as whether it violated state consumer protection laws.