The US state of Texas has sued TikTok, accusing this virtual platform of involvement in the practice of violating the system of norms on ensuring the privacy of children in the digital environment.
Also, the lawsuit of the mentioned region of the United States against the specified social network owned by the Chinese company ByteDance contains a statement about violations of Texas law. In this case, it is alleged that the virtual platform is involved in the practice of sharing personal identifying information about children without the consent of their parents or legal guardians.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeks an injunction and civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation of the state’s Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act, or SCOPE Act.
Ken Paxton also noted that TikTok does not provide tools to restrict the privacy of children and account settings, even allowing information to be shared from personal virtual pages of minors operating in private mode. It was also noted separately that the digital platform allows targeted advertising for children.
Ken Paxton said TikTok and other major technology companies should be held accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritize minors’ online safety and privacy.
The attorney general filed the lawsuit in a Galveston County, Texas state court.
TikTok has not yet responded to a media request for comment on the mentioned claims. It is worth noting that recently the activity of this social network in the United States has faced significant obstacles. For example, last year Utah sued TikTok. The authorities of this region of the United States accused the social network of deceiving users about the scale of interaction with the parent company, which is ByteDance.
