US states press tech companies on privacy and platform safety
A New Mexico jury found Facebook made deceptive data-protection statements, while TikTok and ByteDance settled Alabama’s safety case with a payment of at least $100 million and new usage limits.
Separate cases in New Mexico and Alabama have put Facebook and TikTok under renewed legal scrutiny over how they describe user protection and platform safety.
A New Mexico jury found Facebook violated 43 million state consumer protection laws. It found the company made deceptive statements about investigations into third-party data harvesting and about protecting New Mexico users’ data. Meta said it disagreed with the verdict and would continue to defend itself.
The case centred on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from about 87 million profiles was obtained through a third-party personality quiz and used for targeted advertising.
In Alabama, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, agreed to settle shortly before trial. The Alabama attorney general’s office said the state would receive at least $100 million within 45 days, with the amount potentially rising to $300 million if certain conditions are met. The settlement does not establish the state’s allegations or amount to an admission of wrongdoing.
TikTok agreed to impose a two-hour daily usage limit, pause use after 15 minutes and improve age checks. Alabama had alleged that the platform’s design and recommendations harmed young users and challenged its claims about teen safety and access to US user data.
At least 27 other states and Washington, DC, have brought similar claims against TikTok, according to the source. The cases place consumer protection rules and companies’ claims about privacy and safety at the centre of state oversight.
