Texas Achieves Historic Ruling Against TikTok for Minor Safety
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
AUSTIN, Texas — In a groundbreaking national court ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a historic judgment declaring TikTok responsible for misleading parents about the safety of its platform and exposing minors to explicit and inappropriate material. The ruling was issued by District Judge Cory Liu, who found that the social media platform lied about its safety standards and concealed the prevalence of harmful content. According to the ruling, although TikTok claimed to remove graphic videos depicting drugs, nudity, alcohol, injuries, and obscene language, such material remained accessible to minors, even when users employed 'Restricted Mode.' The legal battle began in January 2025 when Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok for misleadingly promoting its app as safe for minors. The state also accused the company of violating the Online Child Safety by Empowering Parents Act (SCOPE Act) by operating in a manner that jeopardized the privacy and online safety of young Texans. 'TikTok sacrificed the safety and innocence of children for engagement and numbers, and now they are being held accountable,' stated Attorney General Ken Paxton following the ruling. 'Texas is now the first state in the country to legally hold TikTok accountable for lying to parents. I will continue to pursue TikTok and every social media company that exposes children to predators, inappropriate content, or addictive features,' he added. Following this ruling on the company's liability, the case will proceed to trial, which is expected to be scheduled for next month. At that stage, penalties and other legal measures that could be applied to TikTok will be determined.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
