Estimated reading time: 9 minutes.
Key facts
- Case: State of West Virginia ex rel. John B. McCuskey, Attorney General v. TikTok Inc., et al., No. CC-20-2026-C-1310, Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia.
- Filed: October 29, 2026. The case is assigned to Judge Richard D. Lindsay.
- Who is suing: The State of West Virginia, through Attorney General JB McCuskey.
- Who is sued: TikTok Inc., TikTok Ltd., TikTok Pte. Ltd., TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc., TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, ByteDance Ltd. and ByteDance Inc.
- Core allegation: The state says TikTok misled parents and teens about how safe the app is for children and designed it to encourage compulsive use, in violation of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
- What the state wants: Civil penalties, restitution, disgorgement of profits, a court order requiring safety changes and independent monitoring.
- TikTok's response: A spokesperson told WV News the lawsuit "relies on misleading and inaccurate claims."
- Status: This is a state enforcement case, not a class action. No court has ruled, and there is no claim process for families.
In this article
- What West Virginia filed
- Who the defendants are
- The state test with two phones
- App store ratings and parental tools
- Claims about compulsive use
- What TikTok says
- What the state is asking the court to do
- What this means for West Virginia families
- What happens next
- Frequently asked questions
West Virginia has sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, accusing them of telling parents the video app is safe for teenagers while designing it in ways the state says expose children to sexual content, drug references and adult strangers. The 108-page complaint was filed on October 29, 2026, in Kanawha County Circuit Court in Charleston.
The lawsuit is built on one legal claim: that TikTok engaged in unfair or deceptive acts in trade or commerce. Everything described below is what the state alleges. TikTok disputes the claims, and a judge has not decided whether any of them are true.
What West Virginia filed
The complaint was brought by Attorney General JB McCuskey under the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, often shortened to the WVCCPA. Section 46A-6-104 of that law makes unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce unlawful, and section 46A-7-108 lets the attorney general sue to enforce it.
The state frames the case around a broader problem. "West Virginia children and teenagers face an escalating crisis: widespread, compulsive use of social media," the complaint begins. It cites a December 2025 Pew Research Center survey finding that 68% of U.S. teens use TikTok, 61% use it every day and 21% say they use it "almost constantly."
The complaint also points to local events, including the 2021 "Devious Licks" school vandalism trend and a 2026 "Cat in the Hat" hoax in Ritchie and Wood counties. It says news reports have identified at least five registered sex offenders in West Virginia who kept TikTok accounts, some without disclosing them to the State Police as the law requires.
In a news release, McCuskey's office said West Virginia has also sued OpenAI this month, joined a multistate settlement with Meta and reached a settlement with Roblox. Other states have brought their own cases against social media and AI companies, including Texas in its lawsuit against OpenAI.
Who the defendants are
The state named seven companies and asks the court to hold them jointly responsible. TikTok Inc. runs the app in the United States. ByteDance Ltd. is the Chinese-founded parent company, and ByteDance Inc. is a U.S. affiliate.
The complaint also names TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a Delaware company formed in January 2026 to take over parts of TikTok's U.S. operations. According to the complaint, ByteDance keeps a 19.9% ownership stake in the joint venture, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sits on its board, and its CEO, Adam Presser, previously held executive roles at TikTok. The state argues the joint venture continues the same business with substantially the same employees and customers, so it should answer for the same conduct.
The state test with two phones
One of the most specific sections describes a test run by the attorney general's office. Investigators set up two new, identical phones on the same cellular network and location settings. One account was registered as a 13-year-old girl and the other as a 35-year-old woman. Neither account searched for anything.
According to the complaint, the adult account mostly saw videos about food, local West Virginia businesses, family life and lawn care. The account registered to a 13-year-old girl, the state says, was shown sexual innuendo, simulated sex acts, drawings depicting bestiality, videos about vaping and THC products, alcohol content and a video of someone microwaving toothpaste.
These are the state's allegations The test results come from the attorney general's office and have not been tested in court. TikTok says teen accounts have more than 50 preset safety, privacy and security settings and that it will fight the lawsuit.
App store ratings and parental tools
A large part of the case is about what TikTok tells parents before and after they let a teen download the app.
App store ratings. TikTok was rated 12+ in Apple's App Store and is now rated 13+ after Apple changed its rating system in 2025. It is rated "Teen" on Google Play and the Microsoft Store. The complaint says those ratings depend largely on answers the developer gives about how often mature content appears, and that TikTok described sexual content, drug references and similar material as "infrequent." The state says the ratings matter because parents can use phone settings to block apps rated above a chosen age.
Restricted Mode. TikTok says this setting limits exposure to content that may not be suitable for everyone. The complaint cites outside testing by the group Global Witness in 2025, which created accounts registered to 13-year-olds with Restricted Mode turned on and found that TikTok still suggested sexualized searches.
Family Pairing. This tool lets a parent link their account to a teen's account and manage settings such as screen time and content filters. The complaint says a teen can unlink the accounts in a few taps without a parent's PIN or permission. TikTok has said it notifies the parent and locks the settings for 48 hours after an unlink. The state also says TikTok's internal guidance is not to delete the account of a 13 to 17 year old at a parent's request.
LIVE. TikTok says users must be 18 to broadcast live and that it keeps mature live streams away from teen viewers. The state says internal documents show these protections did not work as described.
Claims about compulsive use
The state also argues that TikTok designed the app to keep children scrolling. It quotes internal TikTok documents saying "compulsive usage on TikTok is rampant" and describing features like infinite scroll, auto-play and constant notifications as making it harder for users to manage their time.
The complaint says TikTok's own research found that daily users under 18 spent an average of 106 minutes a day on the app, 25% more than adult daily users. It describes a screen-time prompt that appeared only after a child had already spent 100 minutes on TikTok in a day. About 2.7 million children saw the prompt each day, the state says, but only about 4% set a limit through it, while about 71% closed it and kept watching.
The complaint lists 18 practices it says were unfair or deceptive. They include misrepresenting the app's content in app store ratings, overstating what Family Pairing and Restricted Mode do, applying appearance-altering filters to children without notice, and designing a recommendation system that can pull children into "rabbit holes" of harmful content.
A state case is different from a class action In a class action, a group of consumers sues to recover money for themselves. Here the attorney general sues for the state. Any money recovered would be ordered by the court under state law, and families do not need to sign up for anything.
What TikTok says
In a statement to WV News on October 30, a TikTok spokesperson said: "This lawsuit relies on misleading and inaccurate claims and ignores the concrete safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community."
The company pointed to more than 50 preset safety, privacy and security settings on teen accounts and to Family Pairing. WV News reported that TikTok said it will vigorously defend itself. TikTok has not yet filed a formal response in court.
What the state is asking the court to do
The complaint asks the court to find that the defendants violated the WVCCPA and to order:
- Civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation, if the court finds repeated and willful violations, under W. Va. Code section 46A-7-111.
- Restitution of money taken from West Virginia residents through unlawful practices, and disgorgement of profits.
- An injunction barring deceptive statements about platform safety.
- Effective age verification and safeguards for child users, including parental controls, usage limits, crisis-response protocols and tools to detect predators.
- Clear disclosure of known risks to users, especially children.
- Independent monitoring to make sure TikTok follows any court order.
- Attorney fees, investigation costs and interest.
The complaint does not state a total dollar amount, and the number of violations would be for the court to decide.
What this means for West Virginia families
Nothing changes for TikTok users right away. The lawsuit does not require anyone to delete the app or file a claim, and there is no money available to individual families at this stage.
Parents can review TikTok's own settings and the phone-level controls from Apple or Google. The complaint argues some tools are weaker than advertised, so it may help to check them periodically.
No claim form exists Be cautious about anyone who says you can collect money from this case. If a court ever orders restitution, the attorney general's office would announce how it works.
If you are looking for open cases, see our list of class action cases you can join. For background on similar youth-safety litigation, read our coverage of the Meta youth mental health lawsuits. This article is for information only and is not legal advice.
What happens next
TikTok will have a chance to respond to the complaint, which may include a motion asking the court to dismiss some or all of the case. State consumer protection cases against large tech companies can take a year or more to reach trial or settlement. We will update this story when the court rules on a significant motion.
Frequently asked questions
What is the West Virginia TikTok lawsuit about?
West Virginia says TikTok misled parents and teens about the app's safety and designed it to encourage compulsive use by children, in violation of the state's consumer protection law.
When and where was the lawsuit filed?
It was filed on October 29, 2026, in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, as case No. CC-20-2026-C-1310.
Is this a class action I can join?
No. It is a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general. Individual families do not join, and there is no claim form.
What did the state's test accounts show?
The state says an account registered to a 13-year-old girl was shown sexual, drug-related and other mature content, while an adult account on an identical phone mostly saw ordinary videos. These are allegations TikTok has not answered in court.
How has TikTok responded?
TikTok told WV News the lawsuit "relies on misleading and inaccurate claims" and pointed to more than 50 preset safety settings for teens and its Family Pairing tool.
Could TikTok have to pay money?
If the state wins, the court could order civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, restitution and disgorgement of profits. No amount has been decided.
