Connecticut Attorney General William Tong requested a meeting with TikTok leadership to address the harmful impact of viral challenges like 'Devious Licks' and 'Slap a Teacher' on student and educator safety. The AG criticized TikTok's enforcement of its terms of service and urged reforms to prevent the spread of dangerous content.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements where TikTok acts as a platform provider, including its Terms of Service (ToS) with end-users, vendor contracts with third-party content moderators, and any data processing or partnership agreements with educational institutions. Key clauses to scrutinize are those defining content moderation obligations, standards for removing dangerous content, emergency takedown procedures, and compliance with youth protection requirements. Teams should assess whether current contractual enforcement mechanisms (e.g., account suspension, content demotion) are sufficiently robust and timely to prevent viral harm. Potential changes may include adding specific, measurable performance metrics for content review, mandatory cooperation with law enforcement or educational authorities, and clearer indemnification provisions for physical or psychological harm arising from platform misuse.
Entity
TikTok
Industry
Social MediaOfficial Press Release
https://portal.ct.gov/ag/press-releases/2021-press-releases/attorney-general-tong-seeks-tiktok-leadership-meeting
tiktok devious licks.pdf?rev=2c933923474a47c29171405413b69ae
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/ag/press_releases/2021/tiktok-devious-licks.pdf?rev=2c933923474a47c29171405413b69ae7&hash=88E4E15CB37F10E9BBED705DFD6C6ADA
Connecticut Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Privacy/Privacy-Resources
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against TikTok for deceptively promoting its app as safe for children despite the prevalence of inappropriate and explicit content. The action alleges violations of the SCOPE Act, which protects children's online privacy, and follows a previous lawsuit regarding data privacy issues.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a bipartisan coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing lawsuits against TikTok on October 8, 2024, alleging the platform harmed children’s mental health through addictive features and violated COPPA by collecting and monetizing data from users under 13 without parental consent. The lawsuits seek to halt TikTok’s harmful practices, impose financial penalties including disgorgement of profits from illegal practices, and secure damages for affected users. TikTok is also accused of misrepresenting the effectiveness of its safety tools and failing to warn users about harms from dangerous viral challenges and beauty filters.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced that a coalition of 22 attorneys general is escalating efforts to force TikTok to comply with a multistate investigation into harm to youth mental health. TikTok has failed to fully comply with court orders to preserve evidence and produce documents, impeding the investigation. The coalition is urging a Tennessee court to enforce its orders.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against TikTok for violating the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act by sharing minors’ personal identifying information without parental consent and failing to provide parents with tools to manage their children’s account privacy settings. The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and injunctive relief to prevent future violations. TikTok is accused of prioritizing profit over the online safety and privacy of Texas children.
New Jersey is co-leading a multistate investigation into TikTok to determine if the platform violates consumer protection laws by using techniques that increase engagement among young users, potentially causing mental and physical harm. The investigation will examine what TikTok knows about these harms to children, teenagers, and young adults.
On May 11, 2026, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong led a bipartisan coalition of 21 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to abandon draft guidance that would ease approvals for flavored e-cigarette products. The coalition argues the guidance ignores evidence that flavored e-cigarettes disproportionately drive youth addiction and that FDA has failed to enforce existing authorization requirements for e-cigarette products. The letter references past tobacco and e-cigarette enforcement actions, including the 1998 tobacco master settlement agreement and the 2022 $438.5 million settlement with JUUL Labs.