Florida sues TikTok over children’s access to app

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sued TikTok, accusing the company of violating the state’s online child protection law by allowing minors to create accounts while misleading parents about harmful content on the app.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, names TikTok and several related companies, including ByteDance. It seeks injunctive relief, civil penalties, punitive damages and other relief under Florida law.

The complaint alleges that TikTok is violating House Bill 3, a Florida online child protection law that took effect last year. The law bans children under 14 from creating accounts on covered platforms and requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds.

Uthmeier’s office said TikTok allows children under 14 to create accounts and lets 14- and 15-year-olds do the same without parental consent.

“TikTok’s success hinges on its ability to addict children and teenagers to the platform,” Uthmeier said. “TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law.”

The lawsuit also accuses TikTok of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by representing the app as appropriate for children 13 and older while allegedly understating the amount of mature content available to young users.

According to the complaint, TikTok describes content involving sex, drugs, profanity, self-harm, suicide and eating disorders as “mild” and “infrequent,” even though the state alleges those themes are common on the app and often shown or discussed in graphic detail.

The complaint also alleges that TikTok’s app would receive a higher age rating if it accurately disclosed the frequency and intensity of mature content available through the platform.

Florida further alleges that TikTok is intentionally designed to keep children and teenagers using the app for long periods through features such as the For You feed, autoplay, endless scrolling, push notifications, likes, livestreams and other engagement tools.

The lawsuit says TikTok has known for years that compulsive use of its platform can harm children and teenagers but continued targeting young users because they are central to the company’s business model.

“TikTok is built with safety at its core, with more than 50 preset safety and privacy settings for teens and easy-to-use tools for parents,” A TikTok spokesperson said. “We are evaluating the state’s complaint and are prepared to defend our strong record on minor safety.”

The lawsuit follows similar actions by Uthmeier’s office against other technology companies, including OpenAI, Snap Inc. and Roblox.