Why TikTok wants its new data privacy trial held in Illinois

TikTok is being sued over data privacy — again. This time, though, the social media giant wants the cases tried in Illinois, which has the nation's toughest privacy laws. The company has requested that the new lawsuits, which accuse TikTok of accessing user data through third-party websites on the app's browser, be heard in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. It's the same courtroom where a judge approved a $92 million class-action settlement that sent $167 checks to users in 2022. It's that very settlement that TikTok is expected to use in its legal defense, claiming the company should be immune to more data privacy lawsuits. States nationwide have enacted tough privacy laws, but Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act is considered the toughest in the nation.