Texas sues TikTok for alleged violation of children’s privacy

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued TikTok for allegedly shar­ing minors’ per­son­al data in vio­la­tion of Texas parental con­sent law.

Texas’ Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment, or SCOPE, Act prohibits digital service providers — such as TikTok, owned by ByteDance (BDNCE) — from sharing, disclosing or selling a minor’s personal identifying information without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian, said a press release from the Attorney General’s office.

“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,” said Paxton.

Paxton is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and injunctive relief to prevent future violations of the SCOPE Act by TikTok, according to the Attorney General’s office.

The lawsuit comes at a time when ByteDance is in a legal battle with the U.S. government to either sell TikTok operations in the U.S. or face a ban. Meanwhile, at home, the company has seen a price war with players such as Baidu (BIDU), Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) (OTCPK:TCTZF) and iFlytek in China’s cloud services market.