{"id":135927,"date":"2025-10-27T15:07:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/27\/virginia-attorney-general-gets-green-light-to-sue-tiktok\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:07:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T23:07:21","slug":"virginia-attorney-general-gets-green-light-to-sue-tiktok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/27\/virginia-attorney-general-gets-green-light-to-sue-tiktok\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Attorney General Gets Green Light To Sue TikTok"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TikTok, the alleged national security risk and dancing app, isn\u2019t just getting attacked at the federal level. Most of the heat has come from the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that Donald Trump keeps deterring until some American billionaires can turn it into a proper American propaganda machine, but the states want in on kicking TikTok while they\u2019re down too. Virginia just make a sizeable inroad to to being able to sue the company. 29 News has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A Virginia judge ruled Friday that Attorney General Jason Miyares\u2019 lawsuit against TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance Ltd., will proceed in Richmond City Circuit Court\u2026the court stated Miyares\u2019 complaint contained sufficient allegations of multiple violations of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The suit makes a couple of claims worth mentioning. One claim is that TikTok is intentionally designed to be addictive to adolescents. That should just be taken as a given. In the social media market, websites and applications are known for using gamification tactics to arrest as much attention as possible: if you didn\u2019t read<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2017\/nov\/09\/facebook-sean-parker-vulnerability-brain-psychology\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> former Facebook president Sean Parker\u2019s assessment of social media addictiveness back in 2017<\/a>, read it and then factor in another eight years of apps perfecting the process. They also claimed that TikTok was deceptive for presenting itself as being appropriate for children over the age of 12; I\u2019ve definitely seen some content on the app that should have an \u201cOver 18\u201d or \u201cBET Uncut\u201d disclaimer. Third, they say that the app obscured its connection to and potential to be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party. Bit of potential fear mongering there, but whatever. You\u2019d think any actual ties would have been made clear now by the federal investigation a while ago. Even if there were potential for manipulation because of the app, no psyop could compare to the wave of people realizing America is a third-world country with iPhone access after people rage flocked to Xiaohongshu. Believe me \u2014 the CCP won\u2019t have to do much propagandizing if things continue the way they are slated to be. SNAP\u2019s expiration is about to threaten 40M Americans with not knowing where there next meals will be coming from. That\u2019ll do more to radicalize the average person than TikTok dance challenges ever could. If you thought theory turned people into lefties, wait until you see what mass hunger does.<\/p>\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if things were better if TikTok had a stronger age verification system. The teenagers and 20-somethings would still be subject to time-sinking algorithms and compulsions to mindlessly yell \u201c6,7\u201d whenever the opportunity presents itself:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Feel like that fertility crisis thing might going on for a bit longer. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KzDc9gg6rq\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/KzDc9gg6rq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Schofield (@pschofie79) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pschofie79\/status\/1980301989566398561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>But at least the mindless users will be susceptible adults instead of susceptible children. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.29news.com\/2025\/10\/27\/judge-allows-virginias-lawsuit-against-tiktok-move-forward\/?outputType=amp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Judge Allows Virginia\u2019s Lawsuit Against TikTok To Move Forward<\/a> [29 News]<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:cwilliams@abovethelaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2025\/10\/virginia-attorney-general-gets-green-light-to-sue-tiktok\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Virginia Attorney General Gets Green Light To Sue TikTok<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>TikTok, the alleged national security risk and dancing app, isn\u2019t just getting attacked at the federal level. Most of the heat has come from the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that Donald Trump keeps deterring until some American billionaires can turn it into a proper American propaganda machine, but the states want in on kicking TikTok while they\u2019re down too. Virginia just make a sizeable inroad to to being able to sue the company. 29 News has coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A Virginia judge ruled Friday that Attorney General Jason Miyares\u2019 lawsuit against TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance Ltd., will proceed in Richmond City Circuit Court\u2026the court stated Miyares\u2019 complaint contained sufficient allegations of multiple violations of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The suit makes a couple of claims worth mentioning. One claim is that TikTok is intentionally designed to be addictive to adolescents. That should just be taken as a given. In the social media market, websites and applications are known for using gamification tactics to arrest as much attention as possible: if you didn\u2019t read<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2017\/nov\/09\/facebook-sean-parker-vulnerability-brain-psychology\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> former Facebook president Sean Parker\u2019s assessment of social media addictiveness back in 2017<\/a>, read it and then factor in another eight years of apps perfecting the process. They also claimed that TikTok was deceptive for presenting itself as being appropriate for children over the age of 12; I\u2019ve definitely seen some content on the app that should have an \u201cOver 18\u201d or \u201cBET Uncut\u201d disclaimer. Third, they say that the app obscured its connection to and potential to be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party. Bit of potential fear mongering there, but whatever. You\u2019d think any actual ties would have been made clear now by the federal investigation a while ago. Even if there were potential for manipulation because of the app, no psyop could compare to the wave of people realizing America is a third-world country with iPhone access after people rage flocked to Xiaohongshu. Believe me \u2014 the CCP won\u2019t have to do much propagandizing if things continue the way they are slated to be. SNAP\u2019s expiration is about to threaten 40M Americans with not knowing where there next meals will be coming from. That\u2019ll do more to radicalize the average person than TikTok dance challenges ever could. If you thought theory turned people into lefties, wait until you see what mass hunger does.<\/p>\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if things were better if TikTok had a stronger age verification system. The teenagers and 20-somethings would still be subject to time-sinking algorithms and compulsions to mindlessly yell \u201c6,7\u201d whenever the opportunity presents itself:<\/p>\n<p>But at least the mindless users will be susceptible adults instead of susceptible children. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.29news.com\/2025\/10\/27\/judge-allows-virginias-lawsuit-against-tiktok-move-forward\/?outputType=amp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Judge Allows Virginia\u2019s Lawsuit Against TikTok To Move Forward<\/a> [29 News]<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/Chris-Williams-2025.jpg?resize=512%2C288&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1162378\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#c4a7b3ada8a8ada5a9b784a5a6abb2a1b0aca1a8a5b3eaa7aba9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">[email\u00a0protected] <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WritesForRent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TikTok, the alleged national security risk and dancing app, isn\u2019t just getting attacked at the federal level. Most of the heat has come from the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that Donald Trump keeps deterring until some American billionaires can turn it into a proper American propaganda machine, but the states want in on kicking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Chris-Williams-2025-GB1zPk.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}