{"id":263784,"date":"2026-08-12T07:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263784\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:46:24","slug":"pennsylvania-ag-sues-tiktok-over-harms-to-children-harrisburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263784\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania AG Sues TikTok Over Harms to Children | Harrisburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the company harms children through addictive designs and exposure to adult content.<\/p>\n

The 65 page lawsuit<\/a>, filed in the Allegheny County courts, targets the company using consumer protection laws (a less common legal strategy).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past five years, TikTok has either been the most downloaded app globally each year or is close to the very top,\u201d said Dave Sunday, the Republican attorney general for Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Sunday says the suit has two major complaints against the video social media platform.<\/p>\n

First, it accuses TikTok of misrepresenting its platform to get a 13+ age rating in app stores. To get that rating, a company needs to report \u201cinfrequent\u201d appearance of adult content (drug, alcohol, nudity, etc), or offer in-app controls to limit access to that adult content.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement, TikTok says it has those in-app limiters.<\/p>\n

The new lawsuit alleges those safety restrictions are easily avoidable by teens or, when a \u201crestricted mode\u201d is activated, it is \u201cessentially worthless\u201d. Without filters, adult content is common on TikTok.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of age ratings are to give parents tools they need to make informed decisions,\u201d Sunday said. \u201cTikTok touts restricted mode as a safety feature without warning parents that [it] does not meaningfully restrict the availability of mature content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday says the shortcomings of the apps content filters do not meet consumer expectations, paving the way for consumer protection laws to be enforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more users that are on their app, the more eyeballs for advertising, which is their main revenue stream. So having an age 13+ rating is very important for their bottom line,\u201d Sunday said.<\/p>\n

The second major complaint in the lawsuit alleges TikTok is designed to be addictive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeatures like push notifications and infinite scroll are meant to draw users in and keep them there,\u201d Sunday said.<\/p>\n

Around 68% of teens (13-17 year olds) use TikTok, and roughly 1 in 5 of that age range say they are on the app \u201calmost constantly\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The attorney general says the goal of the lawsuit is to see change in how the app operates\u2014 like reducing addictive designs and requiring stricter age verification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have learned that TikTok has considered features that would reduce compulsive use, but has chosen not to implement them,\u201d Sunday said.<\/p>\n

When asked if TikTok had engaged in conversations about changing app operations, Sunday said his office had been in contact\u2013 and now there is a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement, a TikTok spokesperson said they have voluntary safety measures, called the lawsuits\u2019 claims misleading or inaccurate, and said \u201cwe will vigorously defend against these claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are thousands of lawsuits against TikTok, Facebook, and other social media businesses. While the companies have paid out money, no lawsuit losses have required them to change operations. Yet.<\/p>\n

For example, this summer, a judge ruled that litigation can move forward that accuses Meta (the parent company of Facebook) of harming children with addictive designs in their platforms.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania is part of that litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general sued TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the company harms children through addictive designs and exposure to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2288,37,28,5929,30,29],"class_list":["post-263784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bureau","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263784","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=263784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}