Texas attorney general sues TikTok for deceptive marketing, claims of safety for minors on app
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit against TikTok for deceptive marketing of the app as safe for minors. In court filings, Paxton argues that the company and ownership group violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act with the amount of explicit content and mature themes present in the app, and that it targets minors and is designed to be addictive.
"While TikTok has established itself as one of the most popular apps in Texas, it has utterly disregarded the health and safety of Texas minors in the process," the filings declare. "TikTok is rife with profanity, sexual content, violence, mature themes, and drug and alcohol content. In an investigation of TikTok, the State discovered virtually endless amounts of extreme and mature videos presented to minors as young as thirteen—some with millions of views."
Paxton specifically claims that TikTok lied about its safety standards and concealed the truth about the prevalence of age-inappropriate material for minors, falsely representing that the presence of graphic videos depicting drugs, nudity, alcohol, and profanity was “infrequent” and “mild.”
Paxton previously sued TikTok for allegedly violating Texas' Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (“SCOPE”) Act by operating the platform in a manner that puts the online safety and privacy of Texas children at risk. That case is still pending in a Galveston district court.
