LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement after the Union County Circuit Court denied a motion by TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, to dismiss Griffin’s lawsuit against the social media platform:

“I applaud the court’s decision to allow our lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance to proceed. This marks the third time this year that a lawsuit I have brought against a social media platform has cleared this important legal hurdle.

“TikTok argued that the court did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendants in this case, that our claims under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act should fail, and that the claims are preempted. The court rightfully rejected all three arguments.

“Arkansas is leading the way in holding social media platforms accountable for how they represent themselves to customers and the type of content and algorithms they contain. I will continue to stand up for Arkansans and ensure TikTok keeps our private information out of the hands of the Chinese government.”

To read a copy of the court’s decision, click here.

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