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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is urging TikTok to comply with subpoenas issued earlier this year after the Utah Division of Consumer Protection filed a motion in 3rd District Court Tuesday asking a judge to compel the company to respond.
"Utah will not stop insisting that social media companies be held accountable for the harm they are causing our youth," Cox said in a statement. "That TikTok won't even appropriately respond to the investigative subpoenas speaks volumes about the lack of TikTok's credibility and transparency."
The motion asks the court to find TikTok in contempt and force it to comply with the subpoena "after months of TikTok delaying and providing incomplete information in response to administrative subpoenas," the governor's office said. It says one subpoena was issued in February and another was issued in May.
The motion asks TikTok to prove to the court that it has a good reason not to comply with the subpoenas.
The February subpoena asks for information about the self-assigned 12+ rating on app stores; how TikTok promotes an age-appropriate experience for teenagers; if TikTok prohibits nudity and sexual solicitation; how TikTok identifies and removes content that violates its guidelines; a list of banned hashtags; and anything TikTok knows that suggests use of its app produces an addictive response.
These are just a few examples from the 80 requests for written responses and 55 requests for documents.
TikTok did receive the subpoenas and discuss them with Utah's attorneys — but the motion says the company failed to provide "complete verified responses" or a "reasonable schedule for responding."
It said the February responses had documents TikTok gathered for other investigations, but did not respond to any questions specific to Utah's subpoena. Some of the specifications received answers later, but none of them were verified by the company under oath, according to the motion.
Tuesday's legal filing explains that TikTok has about 150 million users in the U.S., and more than one-third of the people who use it daily are 14 or younger, including many in Utah.
"TikTok's popularity among young users is concerning and has been linked to a whole host of potential mental health issues among teens and children due to their use of the platform," the motion says.
It noted multiple Utah school districts have reported incidents stemming from "TikTok challenges," including sexual harassment, assault, and shooting other teens with polymer beads — leading to permanent eye damage in one teenager.
"For too long, two essential questions have gone unanswered: How is TikTok conducting itself in the state of Utah, and how it is impacting the lives of children?" Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a prepared statement. "We will not accept further excuses or delays. No one is above the law."
Margaret Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, said Utah "is taking a proactive approach" to address youth harms from social media.
"Utah residents deserve to have confidence in the companies they interact with, but TikTok's evasive actions have eroded that trust," she said.
The motion argues that TikTok has not met the standard necessary to show that responding to the questions would be a burden on the company.
As one of the world's largest technology companies, represented by one of the largest law firms in the country, TikTok should be able to respond to concerns that its business practices are harming Utah's children, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection argues in the motion.
