The state of Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and two lawsuits against Tiktok Inc. and its parent company ByteDance, alleging violations of Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin announced Tuesday morning.
"We have to hold Big Tech companies accountable for pushing addictive platforms on our kids and exposing them to a world of inappropriate, damaging content," Sanders said in a news release.
The lawsuit against Meta Platforms is filed in Polk County and alleges that the defendants are liable for the "manipulative and addicting features they deploy to hook young users and keep them on the platform."
Griffin said in the court filing against Meta Platforms that state seeks to hold the defendants accountable for engaging in "deceptive and unconscionable" trade practices in violation of the state's Deceptive Practices Trade Act, "creating a public nuisance and unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of the state and its citizens."
One of the lawsuits against Tiktok Inc is filed in Union County and alleges that Tiktok "routinely exposes Arkansas consumers' data without their knowledge to access and exploitation by the Chinese government and the Communist Party."
The other lawsuit against Tiktok Inc. is filed in Cleburne County and alleges that Tiktok has communicated to Arkansas consumers that "alcohol, tobacco and drug references," "sexual content or nudity," "mature/suggestive themes" and "profanity or crude humor" are "infrequent/mild" on the platform when these types of content are frequent and intense on the platform.
Griffin said in the court filings these lawsuits against Tiktok Inc. are a consumer protection action brought to redress and restrain violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practice Act under which the state seeks an order for an injunction, imposing civil penalties, restitution and other equitable relief that the state is entitled to against the defendants.