On Thursday, October 3rd, Texas filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the short video platform of sharing and selling personal information of minors without the consent of their parents or legal guardians, thereby violating children’s privacy rights and state laws.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit in Galveston County Court, seeking an injunction and civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation of the state’s “Texas Parent Empowerment to Protect Children Online Safety Act” (referred to as the SCOPE Act).
The SCOPE Act aims to protect children under 18 from “harmful content and data collection practices.” The law partially came into effect on September 1st this year, prohibiting social media companies from sharing, disclosing, or selling personal information of minors without parental or guardian consent. The law also requires social media companies to provide tools for guardians to protect children’s online safety and allow verified parents to monitor their minor children’s accounts.
Paxton stated in legal documents that TikTok failed to comply with these legal requirements. He also alleged that TikTok illegally shared and sold minors’ personal identity information to third parties, including advertisers and search engines, and displayed targeted ads to known minors unlawfully.
In a statement, Paxton said, “I will continue to hold TikTok and other major tech companies accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritize online safety and privacy for minors… TikTok and other social media companies cannot ignore their responsibilities under Texas law.”
Paxton further pointed out that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is a Chinese company that has not provided tools to restrict children’s privacy and account settings, even allowing information from accounts set as “private” to be shared and targeted ads to be directed at children.
TikTok denied Paxton’s allegations. TikTok spokesperson Jason Grosse stated in a release, “We strongly disagree with these accusations… We are committed to providing protection measures for families.”
Texas is among the states that have recently attempted to regulate the operations of social media companies through legislation. These laws have faced strong opposition from the tech industry and free speech groups. Critics argue that the “monitoring and filtering” requirements of the law pose a significant threat to online freedom of speech.
In the days leading up to the effective date of the SCOPE Act, Texas district judge Robert Pitman halted certain aspects of the law that require social media companies to filter harmful content in minors’ information (such as self-harm or drug abuse information) citing freedom of speech concerns. However, Pitman allowed some provisions to take effect, such as prohibiting the sale or sharing of minors’ data and new rules allowing parents to monitor their children’s accounts.
(The article referenced reports from Reuters and the “Texas Tribune.”)