TikTok fails to protect kids from harmful content


Listen To Story Above

According to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the popular social media platform TikTok is violating several state laws by failing to adequately protect children from explicit content. Paxton recently filed a lawsuit against the app, which faces a potential shutdown by Sunday if it cannot find a buyer, for breaching Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Scope Act, designed to safeguard information about children.

Paxton stated, “TikTok is claiming to be a safe site for children. That’s clearly not true. If you go on, as a child, you can access explicit materials, inappropriate materials, violent materials, all kinds of things that they should not be able to access, especially since TikTok has said that children are protected on their site.” He argued that this constitutes a deceptive trade practice, and TikTok should be held accountable and pay damages.

The Attorney General accused TikTok of disregarding the health and safety of Texas children, stating, “TikTok is rife with profanity, sexual content, violence, mature themes, and drug and alcohol content.” However, he clarified, “We’re not trying to shut TikTok down completely. All we want them to do is protect children.”

Paxton explained, “They said they’re doing it, and we have state laws that our legislature passed because they care about these kids, and it’s designed to protect children from this exact material. So if they’re going to follow our state laws, we’re happy to have them in Texas.”