Newly released documents in a Utah lawsuit say TikTok has long known that its video livestreams encourage sexual acts and exploit children, but it has made “significant profits” from them. He said he turned a blind eye to the situation because he said he was “getting a lot of money.”
The accusations were made public Friday ahead of a planned ban on TikTok in the U.S. on Jan. 19 unless China-based owner ByteDance sells the popular social media app.
President-elect Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put the ban on hold.
TikTok said it prioritizes secure live streaming.
Utah's first lawsuit accused TikTok of exploiting children. Submitted in June last year In a statement released by the state's Consumer Protection Division, state Attorney General Sean Reyes said TikTok's livestreaming feature created a “virtual strip club” by connecting victims and adult predators in real time.
Friday's complaint cited internal communications and compliance reports from TikTok employees, which are largely unredacted, and said TikTok learned of the threat posed by Live through a series of internal reviews of the feature.
The paper said an investigation known as “Project Meramec” found that hundreds of thousands of 13- to 15-year-olds were circumventing the minimum age limit for gigs in early 2022.
The report said many children were then allegedly “groomed” by adults to perform sex acts, sometimes involving nudity, in exchange for virtual gifts.
The complaint also said an investigation called “Project Jupiter” launched in 2021 found that criminals used the gigs for money laundering, drug sales and terrorist financing, including for Islamic State.
Additionally, an internal investigation in December 2023 “documented what TikTok acknowledged was the 'cruelty' of maintaining Live with the current risks to minors on the app.” says the complaint.
User safety
TikTok has fought against disclosing the information, citing confidentiality concerns and an interest in “preventing potential bad actors from obtaining a roadmap” for exploiting the app.
Utah Judge Coral Sanchez on December 19 ordered much of the previously redacted material to be made public.
“This lawsuit ignores the numerous proactive steps TikTok has voluntarily taken to support the safety and well-being of our community,” a TikTok spokesperson said Friday.
“Instead, this complaint presents a selection of misleading quotes and outdated documents out of context, distorting our commitment to community safety,” the spokesperson added.
In October, a bipartisan group of 13 states and Washington, D.C., separately sued TikTok for allegedly exploiting children and getting them addicted to the app.
“Social media is too often used as a tool to exploit America's youth,” Reyes said in a statement Friday.
“Thanks to Judge Sanchez's ruling, much of TikTok's shocking conduct will become public through this unredacted complaint,” he added. “The full extent of that responsibility will be proven at trial.”
President Joe Biden signed legislation last April authorizing a ban on TikTok, addressing concerns that TikTok collects information about U.S. users and could share it with the Chinese government.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to suspend the ban on January 10, and is expected to issue a decision quickly.
