San Francisco: The US state of Indiana has sued popular social media app TikTok over safety and security breaches.
According to BBC, Todd Rokita, Indiana’s attorney general, has accused TikTok’s parent company ByteDance of violating the state’s consumer protection laws.
The state claims that the app fails to protect young people’s privacy.
TikTok says its policies take youth well-being into consideration, and that it is confident that it could satisfy US national security concerns, according to the report.
The state filed two lawsuits claiming that the app exposes young users to inappropriate content and that it does not disclose the Chinese government’s ability to access sensitive consumer information.
The court documents revealed that “TikTok is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. As long as TikTok is permitted to deceive and mislead Indiana consumers about the risks to their data, those consumers and their privacy are easy prey,” said the report.
The complaint says that the app’s algorithm promotes a variety of inappropriate content, including “alcohol, tobacco, and drugs; sexual content and nudity; and intense profanity”.
A TikTok spokesperson said, “the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority”.
The app has age-limiting and parental control features, and the company is investing in further content controls, said the company.
Back in October, British filmmaker Emmeline Hartley slammed the Chinese short-form video app TikTok for allowing abusive comments in a video.
The comment section of the video about sexual consent was filled with allegations from men accusing women of assault.
–IANS
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