Judge Rejects TikTok’s Request to Dismiss Virginia AG’s Lawsuit

Oct 28, 2025 - 11:02

Updated: 6 months ago

Judge Rejects TikTok’s Request to Dismiss Virginia AG’s Lawsuit

A Virginia judge has rejected TikTok’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares alleging that it violated state law and misled the public about its potential for abuse by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The ruling, issued by Judge Richard B. Campbell in a 12-page opinion on Oct. 24, means the lawsuit filed by Miyares in January will move forward in Richmond City Circuit Court.

“I am pleased with the Court’s decision denying TikTok’s attempts to dismiss our lawsuit,” Miyares said in a statement on Oct. 24.

“In the Commonwealth—and across the country—TikTok has put kids in harm’s way, and exposed them to mature, explicit, and dangerous content.

“We will move forward with our efforts to protect Virginia consumers, especially children, from this deceptive and harmful conduct, and seek to hold TikTok accountable.”

Miyares’s office said that the judge “denied in full” TikTok’s demurrer to dismiss the lawsuit, stating in his opinion that the attorney general’s complaint “had sufficient allegations” of multiple violations of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act by TikTok on all counts.

Additionally, the judge upheld that Miyares’s claims were not “barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the First Amendment, or federal preemption,” Miyares’s office said.

The lawsuit, filed against TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance, claims that TikTok was “intentionally designed” to be addictive for adolescents, according to the attorney general’s office. It adds that the social media platform misled parents and Virginia consumers about its content, including by portraying the app as suitable for users 12 and older and rated “T” for teen, in violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

The lawsuit also aims to hold TikTok accountable for allegedly misleading the public about its ties to the CCP and the potential for misuse of the app by the regime, Miyares’s office said.

The Epoch Times contacted TikTok for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Attorneys general from more than a dozen states, including California, New York, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and New Jersey, filed a lawsuit against TikTok in October 2024, accusing the social media platform of exploiting and harming young users while deceiving the public about its dangers.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also took legal action against TikTok, filing lawsuits in April and August, respectively, citing similar concerns about the platform’s effects on young users.

On Sept. 25, President Donald Trump signed an executive order setting the path for a TikTok deal that could shift majority ownership of the app to American investors. Under the order, ByteDance has 120 days to finalize the terms of the transaction.

Under the deal, ByteDance would hold one of seven board seats and less than 20 percent of stock in TikTok U.S.

Trump’s order said the app’s algorithm will be retrained and monitored by trusted U.S. security partners and that the operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

In August 2024, researchers from Rutgers University and the school’s Network Contagion Research Institute found that TikTok’s algorithms “actively suppress content critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while simultaneously boosting pro-China propaganda and promoting distracting, irrelevant content,” according to their report.

“Through the use of travel influencers, frontier lifestyle accounts, and other CCP-linked content creators, the platform systematically shouts down sensitive discussions about issues like ethnic genocide and human rights abuses,” the report reads.

The report also found that TikTok had carried out “successful indoctrination” of its users, particularly heavy users, given changes in their attitudes toward China, based on the results of a psychological survey.