Utah Lawsuit Alleges TikTok Livestreams Facilitated Money Laundering Activities

TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, has long known that its famous live-streaming feature, “TikTok Live,” exploits minors for adult content & is involved in illegal activities like money laundering, terrorism financing & drug sales, alleges a Utah lawsuit.

Yet, it turned a blind eye as this platform significantly generated profit, according to allegations in an unredacted lawsuit by the State of Utah.

Project Jupiter, a separate internal investigation, was conducted by TikTok to understand the severity of money laundering on the platform. This investigation was started in 2021 & revealed that the TikTok gifting feature was being used for money laundering, drug sales, and other crimes.

Another project; Meramec started an investigation and found that approximately 400,000 TikTok Live features are used by teenagers who are nearly 16-17 years old.

The investigation also revealed different troubling patterns of misuse. Additionally, TikTok management has allegedly discussed scenarios where the TikTok Live feature was used to channel funds to terrorist groups.

“This lawsuit ignores the number of proactive measures that TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support community safety and well-being. Instead, the complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and outdated documents and presents them out of context, which distorts our commitment to the safety of our community.”

TikTok Representative

According to media sources, the unredacted complaint comes just two weeks before TikTok could face a nationwide ban under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024.

The law addresses concerns that TikTok is used to collect influencer content or U.S. data on social & political issues. TikTok’s popularity among minors, as well as the potential threats the site offers to young users, have heightened the attention.

In June, Utah also sued TikTok’s live-streaming feature for the same reasons. Attorney generals from the New Hemisphere, Vermont, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia have also highlighted TikTok live in their legal proceedings.

Recently, a Bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from over a dozen states sued the app and accused it of harming children in both terms, i.e., financially & physically, stated media sources.

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According to a news source, users can broadcast real-time videos through the TikTok live feature, which has come under scrutiny for its alleged failure to secure minors from predators and reduce money laundering operations.