Social media platform TikTok has denied allegations in a Texas lawsuit that they aren’t doing enough to protect the privacy of minors while also not giving parents enough control over how their children use the platform.
Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, filed a lawsuit against TikTok last week. In it, he alleges that the company is in violation of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, or SCOPE.
The new state law was designed to put protections in place so that platforms had to properly handle the personal data of minors.
The complaint alleges that the parental control features that TikTok has fall well short of the requirements of the SCOPE Act.
In a statement, a spokesperson for TikTok responded:
“We strongly disagree with these allegations. In fact, we offer robust safeguards for teens and parents, including Family Pairing, all of which are publicly available. We stand by the protections we provide families.”
Paxton, though, argues that this system isn’t adequate. In his lawsuit, he claims that the social media platform doesn’t mandate “commercially reasonable methods” for parents so they can verify identities, which the act stipulates.
The lawsuit also criticizes a requirement TikTok has for minors in which they have to consent to family pairing, which could create a parental oversight barrier.
In the suit, Texas accuses TikTok of engaging in the “unlawful sharing, disclosing and selling [of] known minors’ personal identifying information” to third-party entities, including search engines and advertisers.
This happens, according to the suit, without them first getting consent from parents who are verified, which is directly in contradiction to the provisions of the SCOPE Act.
The state law was originally passed back in 2023, though some of it partially went into effect last month. It introduces requirements for “digital service providers,” especially those that allow for content sharing and social interaction. The term is very broad, though, and could also apply to software, apps and websites if they collect any personal data.
In the suit, Texas alleges that TikTok “collects, stores and processes personal identifying information about minors whenever a minor interacts with TikTok.” It adds that the data “from users includes date of birth, email, phone number and device settings, such as device type, language preference and country setting, as well as data about a user’s interaction with TikTok, such as videos viewed, ‘liked’ or shared, accounts followed, comments, content created, video captions, sounds and hashtags.”
The new Texas law mandates that all platforms obtain consent from a verifiable parent before they sell, disclose and/or share a minor’s information. Platforms also must give parents tools that they can manage their children’s account settings and privacy with, something Paxton says TikTok doesn’t do.
In a statement released earlier this month, Paxton said:
“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.
“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.”
