Griffin: ‘Each procedural win brings us one step closer to holding TikTok accountable for its deceptive practices’

LITTLE ROCK – Following an order today from the Circuit Court of Cleburne County denying TikTok’s effort to dismiss the state’s suit against it and its parent company, ByteDance, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“This is a big win because it allows us to move forward with the case, where we will show how TikTok has been deceptive when it claims its platform is safe for minors.

“Each procedural win brings us one step closer to holding TikTok accountable for its deceptive practices, and it paves the way for others to do the same. I am extremely proud of the members of my staff working on this case, particularly Deputy Attorney General Alexandra Benton and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Ford, both of whom presented oral arguments against this motion back in February.”

The Arkansas Office of Attorney General sued TikTok and ByteDance last year for violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, asserting that TikTok has misled the public about the content available to minors on its platform and about the platform’s safety and addictiveness.

To read a copy of the court’s decision, click here.

To download a PDF version of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

###