President Trump is now on TikTok. His follower numbers quickly eclipsed those on Biden's account. I was listening to a Charlie Kirk podcast as I began writing this column, and Kirk was touting the virtues of "Conservative TikTok." While the platform is one of the most popular ways to disseminate a message, it is also a purveyor of some fairly awful things that society does not need at this particular time — or any time.
Normally, when one thinks of the dangers of TikTok, one thinks of the innumerable "challenges" that have surfaced over the years. Those challenges have sent entire platoons of people to emergency rooms, and occasionally coroners' offices. Now, the State of Utah is suing the platform, alleging that it promotes the sexual exploitation of minors.
Earlier in the month, Gov. Spencer Cox and Attorney General Sean Reyes announced a lawsuit against the company on behalf of the Utah Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protection. At issue is a TikTok feature known as TikTok LIVE. The suit alleges that the platform knows that adults are using the feature to solicit young people to "strip, pose, or dance provocatively" in exchange for TikTok currency. That currency can then be traded for real money.
In a press release, Reyes stated:
TikTok has created a virtual strip club allowing minors to be exploited across America by connecting innocent victims to predators in real time. Adding insult to injury, Live facilitates money laundering while TikTok quietly charges fifty percent on every transaction to profit in the billions from the entire enterprise. Our investigation confirmed TikTok knows of the damage to young victims but feels it makes far too much money to stop. There are so many layers of harm in its practices that we cannot wait a day longer to act. The State of Utah is front and center in the fight against child exploitation. This suit is just one of many ways we are fighting for child safety online.
In addition to exploitation, the suit claims that the use of virtual currency has served to promote illegal gambling and money laundering and is even funding terrorist activities. The state also alleges that TikTokers are using the LIVE feature and the currency for drug sales. The lawsuit states:
The Division’s pre-suit investigation also confirmed that TikTok’s platform facilitates the sale of illegal drugs to underage children right here at our doorstep—including easily allowing TikTok users to offer the sale and delivery of drugs like Xanax, Valium, and MDMA to children in Salt Lake City.
In addition, the suit states that TikTok uses "dark patterns" or deceptive internet techniques to make it difficult for users to stop engaging with the app, noting, “Children are especially vulnerable to dark patterns. Due to their developing brains and lack of real-world experience, children are far more likely to fall prey to manipulative designs that exploit their need for social validation. Design elements that obscure user settings, bury important terms, and coax children into making harmful decisions are highly effective at undermining children’s agency online.”
This is the state's second lawsuit against TikTok. The first, filed in October of last year, was related to the above-mentioned use of dark patterns to keep young people glued to the app and over the platform's claim that it was not a part of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Some would say that the problem lies not with the app but with the people using it to exploit children and commit other crimes. Others would opine that parents should take charge of their children's internet usage. Those are valid points, but we must also consider that according to the suit, TikTok has been aware of the problems and has done nothing to prevent them. TikTok could have cut the head off of this snake a long time ago, but the money was simply too good.
That brings us back to the parents. If you have ever raised children, you know that they can be horrible decision-makers. You know that they may whine, squeal, scream, yell, and otherwise emote if told there is something they cannot have or do. They do not understand the dangers in the world around them.
In this case, we have what amounts to a sophisticated and flashy CCP spy app that predators and other assorted criminals are using. That is half the danger, albeit a significant one. The other half is that this is a product that is operating under the aegis of a hostile foreign government and by people who could not care less how high the victim count may go.
If you are a parent whose child is on TikTok, your son or daughter is not just at risk from the perverts and drug dealers slinking around the LIVE feature. Even without the cadre of creeps, the purveyors of TikTok are viewing your child with greedy eyes.
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