North Carolina sued TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, arguing the app is built to be addictive and to hook children and teens on purpose. Now TikTok is trying a different move: instead of defending itself on the facts, it's asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to throw the case out of state court entirely and force it somewhere else, maybe California, maybe federal court, maybe even overseas.

This isn't a small technicality. A judge already allowed evidence into the case showing TikTok's own staff privately discussing how the app hooks young users. "Unfortunately, some of the stuff that people find interesting are not always the most healthy," said Nicholas Chng, a former TikTok employee focused on risk detection, according to CNN's reporting on the unsealed footage. "We do, in a way, encourage some of this content being put up just because of the way the platform is designed."

That's the kind of evidence TikTok doesn't want a North Carolina jury to see. Moving the case elsewhere, or delaying it long enough, could mean it never gets the scrutiny it deserves.

This lawsuit was filed by a bipartisan coalition, attorneys general from both parties across more than a dozen states, because protecting kids online isn't a partisan issue. Meta recently agreed to pay billions and change its products after facing similar claims. North Carolina families deserve the same chance to hold TikTok accountable, in their own state's courts.

The North Carolina Supreme Court justices now deciding this case should let it proceed where it was filed. Sign the petition to tell the NC Supreme Court: don't let TikTok dodge accountability by changing the venue.