Lowa is suing TikTok because it says the social media company lies to parents about the kinds of material that kids can see.
In her lawsuit, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says that TikTok hosts “sexual content, drugs, alcohol, intense profanity, self-harm messages, and other X-rated content,” which means that kids and teens in the state can easily find videos that aren’t appropriate for their age. The lawsuit says that TikTok tells Iowa parents and kids that inappropriate content on its platform, like drugs, nakedness, drinking, and bad language, is “infrequent.” The lawsuit calls those claims “lies.”
The state is especially upset about TikTok’s age rating in app stores. There may be “infrequent or intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence; mild or infrequent mature or suggestive themes; and simulated gambling” in an app with a 12+ rating in the App Store, according to Apple. These things may not be appropriate for kids under 12 years old.
The state looked into what a 13-year-old might see on the app and found that it was easy to find content on TikTok that showed “women dancing provocatively in thong bikinis, including in close-up butt and crotch shots,” jungle juice recipes, and tips on how to use marijuana and psilocybin. Some parents might not be scared of thong bikinis, but the lawsuit also says that the AG’s office found videos encouraging self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders. These are all very dangerous types of content that have led regulators to closely watch social media apps in recent years.
For Apple, 17+ is the next age rating up. This means that more “offensive language,” sexual material, nakedness, drugs, and alcohol can be used. It has always been more of an art than a science to give age ratings to social apps that show endless waves of niche algorithmic user-generated content, but Iowa says that TikTok lies to parents on purpose.
Iowa is suing TikTok under the state’s Consumer Fraud Act to get the company to stop “its deceptive, misleading, false and unfair statements and conduct” about the content parents expect based on TikTok’s own community guidelines and its age rating in Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft’s PC store.
The lawsuit also criticizes TikTok’s mode for younger users that is supposed to keep mature material out, saying that it doesn’t do its job:
“Restricted Mode has never worked the way TikTok says it does, and it never will.” Users of the TikTok app, even those who are logged in as 13-year-olds, can see mature content like sexual content, nudity, mature and suggestive themes, profanity, and content about drugs, alcohol, and tobacco when Restricted Mode is turned on. This includes content served in the algorithmically-driven For You Feed that users have not explicitly asked for.
Parents can use TikTok’s “Restricted Mode” to keep their kids from seeing content that might not be appropriate for all ages, like content with adult or complicated themes.
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The suit in Iowa is the most recent action taken by a state against the social media company. Last year, Montana’s governor tried to ban TikTok because he thought the app had ties to China. However, a judge stopped the statewide ban, which was supposed to take effect in 2024. After Indiana, Arkansas, and Utah, Iowa is the fourth state to sue the app because of concerns about the material it shows to people who aren’t old enough to use it.
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