TikTok Live Video Featuring 'Groomed' Minors, Utah AG Claims

TikTok has long known that its famous video livestreams promote sexual content, including streams exploiting and "grooming" adolescents, according to an unredacted lawsuit filed by the state of Utah on Friday.

The platform also determined, through an internal investigation, that the TikTok Live feature encouraged money laundering and permitted users to sell drugs and support terrorism, according to the lawsuit.

TikTok knew its live video features 'groomed' minors

Last fall, a bipartisan group of attorneys general from more than a dozen states sued TikTok, alleging that the app both financially and psychologically harmed minors.

Utah sued TikTok on identical grounds in June. 

Several of the lawsuits, including those from Vermont, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia, centered on TikTok Live. 

The suits highlighted Forbes investigative reporting that found adult men had often utilized the livestreams to lure underage girls into performing provocative, sometimes sexual activities in exchange for digital "gifts" that could be redeemed for money.

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