By Dar Danielson (Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Supreme Court is upholding a district court ruling that says Iowa can sue the operators of the TikTok app for allegedly lying about its safety for kids.

The state sued TikTok operators under the Iowa Consumer Frauds Act saying they kept a “12-plus” age rating on the app despite the presence of mature and age-inappropriate content. TikTok argued their terms of service agreement is a nationwide contract not directed specifically at Iowa customers and the state does not have jurisdiction to sue them.

The Supreme Court ruling says TikTok has entered ongoing contractual relationships with hundreds of thousands of Iowa residents where they actively curate content for Iowa users and in exchange they extract valuable data. It says intentionally conducting business within a state comes with the protection of the state’s laws, and the burden of being hauled into court to answer for misconduct related to its operations.

Here’s the full ruling: Supreme Court TikTok ruling PDF