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AG Paxton Sues TikTok For Downplaying Mature Content

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday sued TikTok for downplaying the prevalence of mature content on the app and for failing to warn minors of the risks it could pose for mental health.

TikTok claims that any exposure to “inappropriate content” on its platform is “infrequent” and “mild,” the state wrote in its filing, but a state investigation “has proven these claims to be misleading, deceptive, and false.” It is “rife with profanity, sexual content, violence, mature themes, and drug and alcohol content” that “would shock the conscience of an individual of any age, let alone impressionable minors.”

TikTok currently has an age rating of 12-plus in app stores, but the state’s suit argues that it should be reclassified as 17-plus because of the frequency of mature content that is unsuitable for minors.

The filing, which is partially redacted, details numerous examples of videos that violate each guideline, from a recording of a girl dancing and lip-synching to the Three 6 Mafia song “Half on a Sack” that contains “extreme profanity,” per the filing, to videos that show drug and alcohol use and abuse, sexualized content and other mature topics.

TikTok’s moderation of sexualized content is “subject to high leakage rates,” the filing states, meaning that many videos are still shown to users despite being forbidden, a problem that also exists for “the very worst kind of sexualized material on TikTok: child sexual abuse material.”

The in-app browser also makes it easy for users to use a browser within the app to look up and view porn, circumventing parental controls on the phone.

Other adult content is prevalent, too, the state found. A test account created for research “reveals that videos containing mature and suggestive themes often occur on the TikTok app and are intense,” including videos promoting eating disorders and videos about people harming themselves.  

The suit also alleges that TikTok has knowingly misrepresented the addictive nature of the app.

“TikTok designs its app to be addictive, including to minors, is aware that minors in fact do become addicted to its app, and fails to inform minors and their parents about the app’s addictive qualities,” the filing states, arguing that many teens “are now addicted to TikTok, to the detriment of their well-being, development, and mental and physical health. … The app has caused rampant body image issues, eating disorders, and even suicide.”

By failing to notify users about the kinds of content available on TikTok and failing to warn them about the dangers it can pose to mental health, the state argues, TikTok is violating Texas consumer protection laws that prohibit “false, misleading or deceptive acts or practices.”

The state’s suit is being filed in the Galveston County District Court, the same place that Paxton in October sued TikTok over alleged violations of Texas’s parental consent laws.

Paxton’s filing is the latest of many suits being brought against the social media giant by state governments and federal agencies. In August, the Department of Justice sued TikTok at a federal level alleging similar violations of child privacy laws, while a bipartisan coalition of 13 states and the District of Columbia all separately sued TikTok in October over alleged consumer protections violations.

And a bipartisan federal law signed by President Joe Biden last April will ban TikTok in the United States on Jan. 19 unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, agrees to sell it.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on that law on Friday, and appeared ready to uphold its legality, the New York Times reported. The court is scheduled to rule on the case by the end of the week.

Sam Stockbridge
Sam Stockbridge
Sam Stockbridge is an award-winning reporter covering politics and the legislature. When he isn’t wonking out at the Capitol, you can find him birding or cycling around Austin.

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