Texas has launched legal proceedings against social media giant TikTok, alleging the platform has breached a new state law designed to protect children's personal information online.

The lawsuit, filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton on Thursday, accuses TikTok of sharing and selling minors' personal data without proper parental consent, violating the state's recently enacted Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act.

The legal action, filed in a federal district court in Galveston, seeks civil penalties of $10,000 per violation, alongside attorney's fees. The law, which partially came into effect on 1 September, requires social media companies to create tools enabling verified parents to supervise their children's accounts.

While TikTok does offer a "family pairing" feature allowing parents to link their account to their teenager's and set certain controls, Paxton argues this falls short of legal requirements. The current system neither requires parents to verify their identity through what the law terms a "commercially reasonable method," nor does it prevent the platform from sharing minors' data with third parties, including advertisers and search engines.

"I will continue to hold TikTok and other Big Tech companies accountable for exploiting Texas children and failing to prioritise minors' online safety and privacy," Paxton said in a statement. "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."

The lawsuit comes amid increased scrutiny of social media platforms' handling of young users' data. Other major tech companies have already taken steps to comply with the new Texas legislation. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, has implemented new parental control features allowing identity-verified parents to set time limits and modify their children's account settings.

The legal challenge is part of a broader movement across several American states to regulate social media companies' content moderation and data handling practices. However, the implementation of such laws has faced resistance from both the tech industry and free speech advocates.

A federal district court judge has already temporarily blocked portions of the Texas law, including requirements for filtering harmful content from minors' feeds. However, the provisions regarding data sharing and parental monitoring tools remain in effect.

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