Of the many allegations against TikTok brought by a group of attorneys general, one stands out for its focus on the company's abusive use of its virtual currency. That currency "substantially harms children," and the livestreaming feature "exploits them financially," according to the lawsuit. Through TikTok's system, children buy the virtual tokens — TikTok Coins — with real money, and the company gets 50% of the revenue from the purchases, the lawsuit says. The suit says that TikTok "extracts" a commission of up to 50% from these exchanges without having obtained the necessary license. "If you make it look pretty and joyful and kind of innocent looking … it makes it easier to manipulate the children," Robins said.

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Persons: ByteDance, TikTok, Brian Schwalb, Gabriel Robins, Robins, Brooke Erin Duffy Organizations: U.S . House, District of Columbia, TikTok, CNBC, Social, University of Virginia, Federal, D.C, Cornell University's Locations: TikTok, Culver City , California