Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok on Thursday, alleging the company violated the state’s parental rights law by sharing the personal data of minors.
The Office of the Attorney General claimed the social media giant was risking the online privacy and safety of children, according to a press release. It also said TikTok violated the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (“SCOPE”) Act, which bars companies like TikTok from “sharing, disclosing, or selling a minor’s personal identifying information without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian.”
BREAKING: Today, I’m suing TikTok for sharing minors’ personal data in violation of Texas law.
Big Tech companies are on notice that I will hold them accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritize minors’ online safety and privacy. pic.twitter.com/lppZ8ebJkd
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 3, 2024
The act mandates companies give parents tools to control the privacy settings of their child’s account – and TikTok has not abided by these regulations, according to the press release. (CCP-Linked TikTok Collected Data Of American Users’ Political Views, DOJ Says)
“I will continue to hold TikTok and other Big Tech companies accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritize minors’ online safety and privacy,” Paxton stated in the press release. “Texas law requires social media companies to take steps to protect kids online and requires them to provide parents with tools to do the same. TikTok and other social media companies cannot ignore their duties under Texas law.”
The Caller reached out to TikTok but at the time of publication has not heard back.
The complaint alleges the platform shares and discloses the personal identifying information of minors to other app users. In addition to sharing and disclosing, TikTok allegedly sells minor’s information to third parties like advertisers and search engines, according to the lawsuit.
TikTok’s website can be accessed by individuals without an account, and people can search the site and access the user’s account information, according to the complaint. (RELATED: TikTok Sues Biden Admin Over Potential Ban)
TikTok sues the US government, saying potential ban violates First Amendment. pic.twitter.com/aFzqydPu6D
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 7, 2024
The lawsuit seeks up to $10,000 in civil penalties per violation and injunctive relief to limit further violations of the SCOPE Act by the company.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance in August, alleging the entities unlawfully collected children’s data, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
The DOJ and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claimed the companies violated a 2019 FTC agreement by continuing to collect the data of millions of minors under 13 years without parental permission. (RELATED: Lawmakers Demand Probe Into Allegations Of TikTok Using Children To Lobby Congress)
The US government also alleged that TikTok and Bytedance did not fulfill the parents’ requests to delete the data. Further, the federal government claimed the social media platform violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
