Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has turned up the heat on tech companies with a series of investigations aimed at protecting minors’ online privacy. According to the Attorney General's office, an inquiry has been opened into Character.AI along with other popular platforms such as Reddit, Instagram, and Discord, under the provisions of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (“SCOPE”) Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (“TDPSA”).
The SCOPE Act lays down the law prohibiting digital service providers from disseminating a minor's personal identifying information without consent from the child's parent or legal guardian. As reported by the Texas Attorney General's office, it also mandates that companies furnish parents with tools that will enable them to manage and control their child’s account settings. The TDPSA demands clear notice and consent requirements for any company that collects or uses personal data belonging to minors.
In a statement obtained by the Texas Attorney General's office, Paxton said, “Technology companies are on notice that my office is vigorously enforcing Texas’s strong data privacy laws. These investigations are a critical step toward ensuring that social media and AI companies comply with our laws designed to protect children from exploitation and harm.”
This move to scrutinize the digital environment for minors comes on the heels of a lawsuit Paxton brought against TikTok, where he claimed the social media giant was flouting the privacy and safety requirements laid out by the SCOPE Act. The Texas AG’s office is on a roll this year, having launched what it describes as the largest data privacy and security initiative led by a State AG office. In this initiative, Texas took General Motors to court for illegal surveillance of drivers and unwarranted data collection shared with insurance companies.
Earlier in July, Texas boasted of achieving an unprecedented $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly Facebook) over accusations of unlawful collection and utilization of facial recognition data. This settlement is recorded as the largest of its kind obtained from a single state's actions.
