Tennessee Attorney General Jonathon Skrmetti joined The Tennessee Star Report Monday morning to discuss his first year in office, and in particular his pursuit of TikTok over its targeting of Tennessee’s children.
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Patrick Leahy: Good morning, Nashville! 7:06 a.m. – broadcasting live from our studios on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee.
In-studio, the original all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael.
Good morning, Crom.
Crom Carmichael: Good morning, Michael.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Also in-studio, and I’ll say it, the very best state attorney general in the entire United States – but I’m biased – Attorney General of Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti. Good morning.
Crom Carmichael: Can you be accurate and biased at the same time?
Michael Patrick Leahy: I can.
Jonathon Skrmetti: Good morning. Thanks for having me back.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Oh, we’re always delighted to have you here. And of course, it’s such an irony because I’ve been such a critic of the part of the Tennessee Constitution, so different than how we select a state attorney general here.
Forty-four states elect them, five have some combination of the state legislature appointing him.
But in Tennessee, It’s the Tennessee State Supreme Court that selects the attorney general.
Boy, have I criticized that; criticized it, and criticized it – and here we are. They make a fabulous pick! They pick Jonathan Skrmetti last August, started work September 1st.
You’ve got an eight-year term. How did your first year go?
Jonathon Skrmetti: Busy.
The number-one takeaway for me is I did not come in looking to be bored.
I had a lot of issues I wanted to address.
We have jumped on those.
There have been so many other things that flared up and it has just been non-stop busy. The taxpayers are getting their money’s worth out of me. We are fighting in so many different fights right now. And it’s great. I got a great team.
I’ve got a lot of encouragement from the legislature, from the governor, and we’re making a difference.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Now, in terms of the big things that you’ve hit, I guess one of your big priorities is the social media harms on kids from Big Tech.
Jonathon Skrmetti: Yeah, so this is something that we’ve been investigating from the get-go.
When I was the chief deputy attorney general a couple of years ago, we had a secret meeting to start thinking about these issues, and one of the best parts of coming into the office was being able to jump back in – and I’m one of the national co-chairs of this effort – and we are looking at these social media companies and seeing evidence, there’s a lot of evidence out there in public from whistleblowers that the companies knew that their products were hurting kids.
They’re designed to be as addictive as possible, and they’re designed to target children, and those kids are the pipeline for future revenue.
But we’ve seen the data. The mental health of American teenagers has fallen off a cliff and we’re investigating. We want to bring some accountability to this.
I don’t want piles of money. What I want is for the companies to stop doing the things that are hurting kids.
And as you can see, we’re working on this. Our investigations tend to be quiet, but we’ve been really mixing it up with TikTok. We filed another motion Friday because they are playing some games trying to keep us from getting the information we need.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Now, back in March, you and 46 other attorneys general requested a state court force TikTok to comply with the investigation, right?
Jonathon Skrmetti: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And they haven’t?
Jonathon Skrmetti: They have not. That’s why we’re backing them in court on it.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And TikTok is basically Chinese-owned, right?
Jonathon Skrmetti: Yes.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Hmm, not a good deal.
Crom?
Crom Carmichael: Question General Skrmetti. You said you don’t want a pile of money, and I got that, and you want them to stop. If they won’t stop, and they want to fight you every step of the way. It seems like harming children, at some point, should be considered criminal.
Is there any opportunity along the way, if they continue to, knowingly harm children, is there an opportunity in Tennessee to convene a grand jury?
Jonathon Skrmetti: So, that would have to be one of the DAs in Tennessee. One of the things that a lot of people are surprised about is I do not have criminal jurisdiction.
I cannot indict anybody except DAs and judges under certain circumstances.
So in other states, some of my brother and sister AGs have concurrent jurisdiction with the DAs, or maybe they can come in for multi-district organized crime or human trafficking or something like that. Here, by statute, my jurisdiction is very limited.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Back on the TikTok issue.
It is stunning to me that a Chinese-owned social media platform can collect all this information about American citizens and, I mean, they’re going to use it to our disadvantage and their advantage. I look at this, and I don’t even know why TikTok is allowed to compete in the United States.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Jonathon Skrmetti: Well, Montana banned it and we’re on an amicus brief in the litigation over that. I mean, I think you’re going to see increasing efforts because separate and apart from the harm to kids, there absolutely is a national security issue here, and I think you’re seeing people from both parties pay attention to that.
Michael Patrick Leahy: So, Montana banned it, but it’s being challenged, I imagine. That ban is being challenged?
Jonathon Skrmetti: It is, so we’re supporting them in court.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And you filed an amicus brief. Where’s that going to end up?
Jonathon Skrmetti: That one may end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Michael Patrick Leahy: And what would be the, what would be the likelihood of Montana winning that case?
Jonathon Skrmetti: I mean, I think it would be good, there’s, there’s some complicated issues, but states have the right to protect their consumers.
Michael Patrick Leahy: I’m all in favor of that. How long will it take to wind through the legal system?
Jonathon Skrmetti: Probably four or five years.
Michael Patrick Leahy: Four or five years.
Just a little blink of time.
We’ll have more when we get back with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. This is The Tennessee Star Report. I’m Michael Patrick Leahy.
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