TikTok faces lawsuit in US for violating children's privacy

TikTok is facing another lawsuit for mishandling data of underage users. The Texas government on Thursday, sued the short-video platform, accusing it of violating children's privacy and state law by sharing children's personal identifying information without consent from their parents or legal guardians. The lawsuit 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, which prohibits social media companies from selling or sharing personal information of minor users without an approval from a parent or legal guardian.

Paxton said TikTok, whose parent is China's ByteDance, does not provide tools to restrict children's privacy and account settings, even allowing information to be shared from accounts set to "private," and allows targeted advertising to children. The “Family Pairing” feature that allows parents to link their account to their teenager’s account and set controls also has no provision for verifying identity through a “commercially reasonable method,” Paxton argued. He also added that TikTok unlawfully shares minors’ personal information with third parties, including advertisers and search engines, and shows them targeted advertising illegally.

TikTok and other large technology companies must be held accountable "for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritise minors' online safety and privacy," Paxton said in a statement. “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,” he added.

The attorney general filed the lawsuit in a Galveston County, Texas state court.

“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. We stand by the protections we provide families,” a report quoted TikTok spokesperson Jason Grosse as saying. 

Written with inputs from Reuters