MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced his plans to join seven other states in a bipartisan coalition that will investigate the assumed negative impact TikTok has on child app users on Wednesday, March 3.
Although left- and right-wing politicians rarely share the same views on social and political issues, speculation about the app’s risk to young users has increased, now becoming a shared concern.
Throughout the investigation, Slatery said that he plans to observe advertisement techniques that TikTok uses to increase app usage and engagement from its child users, ultimately seeking to understand whether the app’s tactics violate state consumer protection laws.
California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Vermont make up the seven other states that have launched investigations into TikTok's supposed endangerment to children's mental and emotional health.
Talk of investigating the app’s risks comes after The U.S. Department of Commerce and the Biden administration announced on February 2 that it is seeking to apply new regulations to increase sensitive data restrictions on apps, like TikTok, that are owned by foreign countries.
Some may remember that in 2020, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order to ban TikTok unless its owners released app ownership to U.S. companies. The order was unsuccessful after it was blocked by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, who decided that Trump’s ban “exceeded limitations” of power by failing to explore other alternatives to protect U.S. data security before implementing a ban on the app.
The U.S Department of Commerce’s plans to increase app restrictions fall in line with President Joe Biden’s original order that took effect June 9, 2021, which will soon expire.
Biden’s original order replaced Trump’s failed TikTok ban, extending the oversite and review of multiple foreign owned apps in hopes of increasing data security, rather than solely singling out TikTok. Biden’s order extended to apps like WeChat, ByteDance, TikTok and others.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said that it believes third-party auditing will prevent foreign countries from closely examining user data logs, as well as aid in increasing app security to prevent foreign countries from easily obtaining user data.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is currently reviewing proposed regulations, and it plans to enforce restrictions that would require foreign owned apps to undergo third-party auditing.
