Texas sues TikTok over claims app illegally shares minor's data

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against social media platform TikTok for allegedly violating a state law.

Paxton claims the app is violating the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. A claim that TikTok refutes.

The SCOPE Act, which was passed in 2023 and took effect in September, keeps social media platforms from sharing, disclosing or selling a minor's personal information without permission from a parent or guardian.

Paxton says the law requires digital service providers to offer tools for a minor's parent and guardian to manage and control a minor's privacy and account settings. 

Ken Paxton

The attorney general says the current parental controls on the app don't go far enough.

"Defendants have failed, and continue to fail, to create and provide parents and guardians with the tools legally required to protect minors’ privacy and safety. Defendants have failed to develop a commercially reasonable method for a known minor’s parent or guardian to verify their identity and relationship to a known minor. Further, Defendants share and disclose the personal identifying information of minors without permission from a known minor’s verified parent," reads the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that a simple search for a TikTok account can reveal personal information like the user's name, username, profile image, content and more.

Paxton is seeking civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation, under the lawsuit.

"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," said Paxton in a statement.

Constitutional attorney David Coale, who is not connected to the case, believes Paxton is using the lawsuit as a test.

"I mean we all know what you put online tends to go off and monetized and that starts to get into general content politics that raise more of a First Amendment issue," said Coale. "The closer it gets to conduct and a direct line to protecting kids and parents that's going to better for the state in court."

Cyber security expert Vahid Behzadan is looking at the case through a different lens.

"If the data is breached, then the the the history of interactions that the minor has had with the app, along with other attributes that were collected, including location data and name contacts or interactions with others and so on, can be easily exploited by by bad actors," said Behzadan.

In response to the lawsuit, a TikTok spokesman issued a statement.

"We strongly disagree with these allegations and, in fact, we offer robust safeguards for teens and parents, including family pairing, all of which are publicly available," read the statement in part.

There is no word on when the federal district court judge in Galveston will issue a ruling.