The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is investigating TikTok.
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says the probe will mirror the recent legal action against Meta, which resulted in a large national settlement and policy changes.
"Will put restrictions on how much teenagers can use it, what kind of content can be transmitted to teenagers and littler kids, obviously," Hanaway says.
Hanaway says she expects Missouri will join other states, investigating TikTok. The Chinese-owned platform is accused of unlawfully gathering information from its users, including underage users.
Hanaway says the goal is to change TikTok’s policies but to also reach a monetary settlement and put it to good use.
"We're going to drive it into solving cyber security crimes," Hanaway explains. "We're going to drive it into finding more investigators. We're going to try and prevent these crimes as much as we humanly possibly can."
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is also investigating the Chinese online retailer TEMU (TEE-moo). Hanaway says TEMU is also accused of improper data collection, as well as selling faulty merchandise.
"We are going after big tech because big tech's been coming after Missourians and they've been coming after our information and they're coming after our kids," Hanaway says.
She says the investigations mirror the action the state took against Meta, which resulted in a $17 billion, multi-state settlement and policy changes designed to protect young users.
Missourinet