Shortly after a month has passed after the state passed the bill, the lawsuit has been filed.
Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, has filed a complaint against TikTok, claiming that the company has violated a statute aimed at protecting the rights of minors that was recently passed in Texas. Above a month ago, the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act of Texas came into force, and it remains the first instance where the law will be challenged since its coming into force.
According to the law, which a judge at the federal level limited the implementation of, social media websites are expected to implement restrictions on the ages of children using their sites, as well as provide tools for parents. These tools include the option for parents to prevent the collection of data of their children.
According to Paxton, TikTok currently does not have any effective parental control measures. The complaint states that the defendants do not offer any parental controls to the parents or guardians of users aged 13-17 that allow those parents to change or restrict most of the user settings and privacy features associated with a known minor. “For example, a parent or guardian is unable to restrict the defendants’ practice of using a known minor’s personally identifiable information for purposes of advertising or marketing to the known minor without consent of the parent or guardian. The same goes with targeted advertising aimed at a known minor.”
The complaint additionally claims that the app’s “Family Pairing” feature is “not commercially reasonable” in that it requires parents to set up their own TikTok accounts and that minors can simply ignore such requests from their parents to activate this app feature. Upon request for comment, the representatives of TikTok responded to the inquiry promptly While most if not all such advertising targeted to users aged under 18 years is already inhibited by the app itself.
“These allegations are untrue and, in fact, we have extensive measures in place to protect children and parents, including family pairing options, all of which are accessible in the public domain,” said the Company and republished on X.” We do not compromise the privacy of our customers”. “We believe in the safeguards we have in place for families.”
Hence, due to this case, TikTok is also receiving more legal troubles in the USA. The company is already contesting a lawsuit filed to impose a ban on the app in the United States. she is also a defendant in a lawsuit from the investigation department concerned about children’s privacy issues.