A Texas judge has ruled that TikTok violated the state’s consumer protection laws by misleading users about its measures to protect children from harmful content.
The ruling, stemming from a lawsuit filed by Texas in January last year, made Texas the first state in the nation to hold the social media platform liable for lying about its safety feature.
The state had argued that TikTok claimed it would remove content violating its community guidelines, such as those depicting drugs, nudity, alcohol, injuries, and profanity, according to the ruling.
However, state prosecutors said the company’s internal content-moderation policies allowed such content to remain accessible to minors under the designation “hard to find” rather than “do not allow.”
Judge Cory Liu of Travis County ruled that TikTok’s practice violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Act.
The judge also found that Texas had established that TikTok’s “Restricted Mode” did not function as it was marketed, exposing users to content the company said would be filtered out.
Texas Attorney General Paxton said on Sept. 10 that the case will now proceed to trial—expected to take place next month—to determine relief and penalties against TikTok.
“TikTok sacrificed the safety and innocence of children for engagement and numbers, and now they are being held accountable,” he said in a statement.
Paxton vowed that he would continue to target social media companies that expose “children to predators, inappropriate content, addictive features, or any other dangerous aspect of their platforms.”
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
TikTok said on its website that its app is available for individuals aged 13 and above, but some features are restricted until they turn 16 or 18.
The company also said that accounts of users aged 13 to 15 are set to private by default, meaning other users must be approved before they can follow the accounts and view their posts.
Texas filed the lawsuit on Jan. 9, 2025, accusing TikTok of targeting its app toward minors. It argued that the app’s endless scroll of videos is designed to hook users into “a dreamlike state of content consumption,” and that this addictive use is a core element of the company’s business model, as it drives more advertising and massive profits.
In July, TikTok reached a settlement with a Florida teenager who blamed the platform and other social media companies for fueling his addiction, leading to depression, anxiety, and sleep loss. The settlement puts to rest claims against ByteDance’s TikTok related to the lawsuit filed by the teen. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Naveen Athrappully and Kimberly Hayek contributed to this report.
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