Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed another lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media platform of violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by falsely promoting its app as safe for children.
“TikTok actively worked to deceive parents and lure children onto their app despite the presence of an overwhelming amount of profane and illicit material,” Paxton said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
According to the Attorney General’s office, TikTok purposefully deceived parents about the nature of its content, advertising the app as child-friendly while downplaying the frequent exposure to nudity, drug use, and profanity. Paxton’s office also claims that the platform hid the nature of its content to maintain its current age ratings on app stores.
As one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, TikTok has amassed millions of young users.
Critics have long raised concerns about the app’s algorithm, which can surface harmful or explicit content, even when users search for benign videos or interact with seemingly innocent posts. Despite TikTok’s age restrictions and efforts to introduce parental controls, this new lawsuit claims these standards have been ineffective in guarding children from graphic videos.
Paxton’s office further argues that the app’s promotion of any dangerous or unclearly labeled content is a clear violation of consumer protection laws and could have lasting negative effects on younger users.
However, TikTok’s community guidelines page says, “We do not allow content that may put young people at risk of psychological, physical, or developmental harm.”
The company’s guidelines go on to state, “In the United States, there is a separate under-13 TikTok experience that offers additional safeguards, including restricting interactive features. … If you create a new account in the United States with a birthdate that shows you are under the age of 13, you will automatically enter into this experience. If we learn someone is below the minimum age to have an account on TikTok, we will ban that account.”
The lawsuit builds on a previous legal battle Paxton started in 2024. In that case, Paxton’s office accused TikTok of violating the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, which “prohibits digital service providers, like Defendants, from sharing, disclosing, or selling a minor’s personal identifying information unless the minor’s parent or guardian permits otherwise,” a court filing states.
“The SCOPE Act further requires that a digital service provider provide tools for a known minor’s parent to manage and control a minor’s privacy and account settings, such as controlling Defendants’ ability to share, disclose, and sell a known minor’s personal identifying information andDefendants’ ability to display targeted advertising to a known minor.”
President-elect Donald Trump has recently vowed to “save TikTok in America” via his Truth social media platform, a stark contrast to his 2020 stance when he attempted to ban the popular social media app through an executive order.