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(Des Moines, IA) -- Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is suing TikTok, accusing the social media app of deceiving Iowa parents and lying about kids' access to inappropriate content.
"TikTok has kept parents in the dark," said Bird. "It’s time we shine a light on TikTok for exposing young children to graphic materials such as sexual content, self-harm, illegal drug use, and worse."
The lawsuit says TikTok:
- Claims a "12+" rating in Apple’s App Store, despite frequent and intense adult content, including:
- Sexual content and nudity
- Profanity and crude humor
- Mature and suggestive themes
- Alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use
- Works around parental controls on Apple devices by wrongfully rating its app "12+"
- Violates App Store guidelines by saying harmful content is "infrequent/mild" when it is actually "frequent/intense"
- Recommends inappropriate content to children as young as 13
Bird says TikTok violates the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act.