January 3, 2025
An internal investigation called “Project Meramec” shows TikTok executives knew the company was profiting from children being sexually exploited on its platform.
Salt Lake City, UT—The Utah Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protections, represented by the Utah Attorney General’s Office, announced today the release of previously redacted information related to its most recent complaint filed against TikTok Inc. (TikTok). The previously redacted allegations include details from TikTok’s internal investigation, what the company called “Project Meramec,” which revealed that TikTok knew that hundreds of thousands of minors were accessing their LIVE product and its age restrictions were ineffective. Additionally, the Division alleges the company’s investigation recognized that children were being sexually exploited, and TikTok decided not to stop anything because of the financial profits it was raking in.
The less-redacted complaint, which is being filed with permission of Judge Coral Sanchez of the Utah Third District Court, reveals allegations that highlight concerns that TikTok operates an open-door policy allowing predators and criminals to exploit users, especially children. Additionally, it alleges that TikTok pockets as much as half of every money exchange it brokers on its LIVE platform. Through the coins and gifts, some of which take the form of plush toys targeted to very young minors, TikTok reaps exorbitant profits.
The updated complaint, initially filed in June 2024, now shows the Division and the Attorney General’s Office had enough evidence to allege that TikTok coupled its livestream feature with monetization to create an environment built on exchanging TikTok’s virtual currency for sexual and illegal acts. TikTok’s internal “Project Meramec” investigation and the admissions of its employees document how TikTok LIVE allows adults to pay young users to strip, pose, and dance provocatively for “diamonds,” which can be cashed out for real money.
“Utah’s unredacted complaint demonstrates how clearly depraved TikTok’s business model is. Such a blatant disregard for the safety of our children on the platform, not to mention profiting from their exploitation, shocks the conscience and proves that TikTok harms children,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
TikTok’s alleged profiteering extends beyond child sexual exploitation. The complaint alleges TikTok performed another internal investigation called “Project Jupiter” that concluded that its livestream feature, along with its virtual currency, has enabled criminals to launder money, sell drugs, and fund terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
“For my 11 years in office, Utah has led nationally to protect our children from violence and victimization in all forms but particularly from online predators. Sadly, social media is too often the tool for exploiting America’s young people. Online exploitation of minors has exploded, leading to depression, isolation, and other tragedies such as suicide, addiction, and trafficking. It would be outrageous enough to endanger our kids the way TikTok has—even if it was unintended. But the fact that it serves up minors on ‘TikTokLive,’ knowing the danger, understanding the damage, and still monetizing the exploitation of our kids is unconscionable. And that doesn’t even address the money laundering aspects of our case,” said Attorney General Reyes.
“This last complaint I file as AG is symbolic of my years standing watch over this great state. We punch hard and don’t stop, no matter how powerful our opposition. We refuse to back down when our cause is just. We’re a smaller population state, but we play a big role leading on many national issues. Thanks to Judge Sanchez’s ruling, more of TikTok’s shocking conduct will now be public through this unredacted complaint. And with discovery, the full extent of its culpability can be demonstrated at trial,” AG Reyes continued.
The complaint also alleges that TikTok’s algorithm favors and boosts live feeds that receive virtual currency gifts. As the complaint alleges, those feeds with a high currency exchange involve money laundering, sexual content, or both. As a result, this dangerous content is prioritized and featured at the top of user feeds and labeled as “TopLives.” Thus, new or curious children on the platform will fall into a hazardous community with no warning.
This case marked the second lawsuit against TikTok by the Division through the Utah Attorney General’s Office. In October 2023, the State filed a consumer protection case against TikTok for intentionally designing and implementing addictive features aimed at hooking young users into endless use of its app. Throughout the Division’s ongoing investigation, and after a lengthy legal battle regarding TikTok’s refusal to comply with the Division’s subpoenas, a Utah judge found TikTok in contempt for failing to produce the required documents. Once TikTok eventually submitted those court-ordered documents, it became evident that the dangers posed by the platform to children extend beyond its addictive algorithm. It also includes a significant risk, as the TikTok LIVE feature appears to create an open door for criminals to exploit users, particularly minors.
“Since the State’s first complaint against TikTok, we have had to fight tooth and nail to get this information from them, said Margaret Woolley Busse, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “Now that the court has allowed us to make more of the Division’s complaint public, it shows just how TikTok has been lacking in any moral guardrails and how they have knowingly put our kids at risk.”