Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday sued TikTok and ByteDance in Allegheny County court, alleging the app understated how much alcohol, drug use, sex, and violence it carries so it could hold a 13+ rating in the app stores. That rating is what opened the platform to 13-year-olds, the complaint says, and the restricted mode meant to screen mature content has never worked as advertised. Sunday also alleges TikTok never told parents it built infinite scroll and push notifications to exploit a young user’s inability to self-regulate, and that ByteDance gives minors abroad protections it withholds in the US. He is seeking civil penalties and an order barring the app from misleading consumers. TikTok called the allegations misleading and inaccurate, pointing to its Family Pairing tools.
