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Utah and TikTok disagree about the public release of private social media firm information

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Salt Lake City, Utah – Following a hearing where the state of Utah pushed for the release of information about TikTok’s internal business processes, a judge will determine how much of it is made public.

Attorneys for TikTok urged 3rd District Court Judge Coral Sanchez to hold off on ordering the public release of information about the social media behemoth that was included in a redacted complaint filed by the state at a hearing on Thursday. They contended that the data might reveal trade secrets regarding the video app and other business processes.

The accusations make more than simply derogatory remarks about TikTok. Throughout the complaint, negative things are spoken about TikTok. Thus, this goes beyond a simple case of reputational loss, according to TikTok lawyer Blaine Evanson. “It’s within those allegations there are many statements from internal, confidential discussions at TikTok related to things about the platform, how the platform operates and, in particular, what TikTok individuals were discussing in response to some of the claims the state was asserting here.”

The subject of Thursday’s meeting was Utah’s most recent complaint against TikTok. According to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, the company’s virtual money structure and livestreaming could encourage the sexual exploitation of minors.

Jimmy Rock, an attorney for the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, stated, “The Division’s investigation uncovered that consistent with public reporting about these harms, TikTok also knew of the dangers of combining these features and knew it was profiting off of the significant number of virtual money transactions on its platform — including money transactions for sexual activity.” “Since the Division brought this case, a number of states have brought several actions, including several earlier this week.”

More than a dozen states filed lawsuits earlier this week, bringing allegations akin to those made in a Utah case against TikTok, namely that the company has developed an addictive algorithm that negatively impacts young people’s mental health. Rock compared it in court to “digital nicotine.” Due to claims of harm to children, Utah has become more assertive in its legal actions against social media corporations, including cases against some of the largest ones.

Evanson, however, contended to Judge Sanchez that details on TikTok’s own handling of the accusations were not to be disclosed in court documents.

“If made public, these are private, internal discussions that…” Would demonstrate to a malicious user how to abuse the platform or point out some of its weaknesses,” he informed her. “These are more than just accusations meant to harm TikTok. The very people the state is attempting to safeguard are harmed by them.”

Lawyers seemed to dance around the details of their arguments in the courtroom. Judge Sanchez gave notice at the beginning of the hearing that, although she had permitted the use of a TV camera in the courtroom, she would end it immediately if the topic of conversation deviated into too sensitive a territory. It seems the state is also looking for information regarding content providers, users, and revenue generated by the social media platform in Utah.

Judge Sanchez listened to the arguments with patience and showed no indication of her potential ruling strategy.

“The current redactions will remain in place until I issue my ruling,” she stated.

For a hearing on TikTok’s move to have the state’s case against it dismissed dismissed, attorneys will be back in court in December.

 

 

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