{"id":263466,"date":"2026-08-11T20:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263466\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T20:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:10:06","slug":"pennsylvania-attorney-general-dave-sunday-announces-lawsuit-against-tiktok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263466\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announces lawsuit against TikTok"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Tuesday that his office is suing TikTok, accusing the social media platform of designing its app to be \u201cintentionally addictive\u201d \u2013 while also regularly featuring \u201cfrequent and intense\u201d adult content despite its \u201c13+\u201d rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTikTok intentionally designed its platform to be addictive to young people, maximizing the time kids spend on their platform to grow their bottom line,\u201d the attorney general said Tuesday at a press conference at the state Capitol. \u201cThey want users, including children, to crave the app. They want users to endlessly scroll while they rake in astronomical ad revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday added that he strongly believes that the information gathered by his office\u2019s investigation shows \u201cthat TikTok designed their app to promote infinite scrolling that can deteriorate and decay a child\u2019s mental wellness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 65-page lawsuit<\/a> argues that developers deliberately designed TikTok in ways that make it addictive, and that the company has downplayed the prevalence of adult-themed content \u2013 including content that depicts drug and alcohol use, profanity, sexual activity and violence \u2013 to secure a \u201c13+\u201d rating on various app stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, TikTok has stated through the Apple App Store that its platform contains \u201cinfrequent\/mild\u201d levels of sexual content, profanity, alcohol and drug use, and other mature themes. But the attorney general\u2019s office disagrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of those representations are false,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cThe TikTok app contains frequent and intense sexual content and nudity, profanity and crude humor, mature and suggestive themes, and alcohol, tobacco, and drug use and references.\u201d<\/p>\n

To underscore the addictive nature of TikTok, Sunday pointed to the viral slang term \u201cbed rotting,\u201d which refers to people spending extended periods of time in bed scrolling on their phones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTikTok\u2019s infinite scroll feature promotes that,\u201d Sunday said. \u201cAnd if you haven\u2019t been on the app in a while, they will send you a very enticing push notification to try and lure you back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues that TikTok violated the state\u2019s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law by misrepresenting the level of adult-themed content on its app to receive a \u201c13+\u201d age rating, with the AG\u2019s office adding that the app should instead have a \u201c16+\u201d or \u201c18+\u201d rating. The lawsuit also suggests that TikTok has deceived Pennsylvania consumers by making its app addictive through \u201cdeliberate design choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

Sunday said the lawsuit \u201cseeks to put into place effective barriers and safeguards that will consider the child consumer\u2019s well-being and safety.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for TikTok pushed back on characterizations made in the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This lawsuit relies on misleading and inaccurate claims and deliberately ignores the concrete safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community,\u201d a spokesperson told City & State in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTeen accounts have 50 preset safety, privacy and security settings built-in, and TikTok\u2019s Family Pairing tools give parents direct control over screen time and content filters,\u201d the statement continues. \u201cWe will vigorously defend against these claims.”<\/p>\n

Sunday spoke with City & State<\/a> earlier this year about how new technologies are altering everyday life for Pennsylvanians, highlighting the need for a balance between innovation and public safety. \u201cInnovation and technology are not mutually exclusive from protecting children. We can do both, and we must do both. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d Sunday said.<\/p>\n

With children and teens exposed to a range of new technologies and products, ranging from TikTok to AI chatbots, Sunday said it\u2019s important that parents be aware of the apps and platforms their children use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk to your child,\u201d he said. \u201cBe a part of their life in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Tuesday that his office is suing TikTok, accusing the social media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4599,2156,28,30,29,503],"class_list":["post-263466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-dave-sunday","tag-news-politics","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}