Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the popular video-sharing app violated a new state law designed to protect minors from harmful content and data collection practices. The lawsuit, filed on October 3rd, claims that TikTok collected and stored personal identifying information of minors without complying with the requirements of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. This act, which came into effect on September 1st, prohibits digital service providers from sharing or selling minors’ personal information without parental consent.
Under the SCOPE Act, digital service providers are also required to create tools that allow parents or legal guardians to monitor and control their teens’ privacy settings. However, Paxton alleges that TikTok’s “family pairing” feature does not adequately verify the identity and relationship of parents or guardians to minors. Additionally, it is claimed that TikTok fails to give parents control over their teens’ personal information sharing and targeted advertising.
The lawsuit seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation of the SCOPE Act and an injunction against further violations by TikTok. Paxton emphasized his commitment to holding technology companies accountable for exploiting Texas children’s online safety and privacy.
This is not the first legal challenge faced by TikTok in recent months. In August, both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The DOJ accused TikTok of bypassing parental consent in retaining children’s personal information while failing to honor requests from parents for account deletion.
TikTok has denied these allegations but faces increasing scrutiny regarding its data collection practices. President Joe Biden signed a law in April requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok if it fails to meet certain security standards. Despite these challenges, TikTok remains one of the most popular social media platforms globally.
(Note: Sam Dorman contributed reporting.)
