Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has received help from the state’s courts in his fight with the social-media industry, as his case against TikTok will move forward as planned.
The state Supreme Court last week ruled Clark County District Court has jurisdiction over TikTok because of the company’s collection of Nevada users’ personal data and its sale of that information to third-party advertisers.
It also found the federal Communications Decency Act doesn’t preempt Ford’s claims TikTok was designed to manipulate young users, causing harms related to mental health, body image and privacy.
“While operating a website accessible in many states in and of itself does not constitute express aiming, TikTok’s interactive social media business model depends on capturing users’ attention in order to collect demographic and behavioral data that it then sells to third-party advertisers,” the court wrote.
“The State alleged and supported with evidence that TikTok knew of and pursued its market success in Nevada and that young users have struggled with limiting their TikTok use due to the at-issue design features.”
The court also cites marketing in Reno and Las Vegas and an outreach to an elementary school PTA.
Ford sued the parent companies of TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger in January 2024, hiring outside lawyers at three firms to allege they have been designed to create young social-media addicts.
His office said the apps use endless scrolling, “dopamine-inducing rewards” and other functions to exploit children for financial gain. The firms Nachawati Law Group, WH Law and Kemp Jones are working on an escalating contingency-fee contract.
This year, Ford filed similar allegations against Kik and joined a letter with 36 colleagues sent to Instagram with concerns about user privacy.
TikTok claimed it was protected by the First Amendment and the CDA, but the trial court and Supreme Court ruled otherwise. They looked at a case against Snapchat filed after two boys died in a high-speed car accident while using the app’s Speed Filter.
Though the CDA protects online platforms from the consequences of third-party speech posted on them, the claims in that case centered on the design of Snapchat – not the content posted on it.
“On its face, the State’s complaint does not seek to hold TikTok liable for any third-party content that it publishes,” the opinion says.
“The state’s first (Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act) claim… targets TikTok’s alleged own knowingly false statements and omissions to regulators and the public about young users’ safety on the platform.”
