Texas judge rules TikTok misled users on child safety feature

Sept 10 (Reuters) - A Texas ‌judge ruled ​on ​Thursday that TikTok violated the state's consumer protection law by misleading users about how it filtered ‌content for minors and whether its "Restricted Mode" feature ⁠shielded children from inappropriate material.

• Texas sued TikTok in January 2025, ‌alleging it marketed its platform ‌as safe for children.

• TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

• ​According to the ruling, Texas said TikTok told users it would remove content that violated its Community ⁠Guidelines, but internally classified some of that material as "hard to find" rather than "do ​not allow," allowing it to remain on the platform. Judge Cory Liu agreed that the practice ​violated the state's consumer protection law.

• ‌Liu also said Texas had established that TikTok's "Restricted Mode" did not work as advertised and ⁠exposed minors to content the company said would be filtered out.

• The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said ⁠the case will now proceed to trial, where penalties and other remedies ​would be determined. The trial is expected to be scheduled next month, according to Paxton's office.

• TikTok in August agreed to settle ‌three U.S. lawsuits brought by young people who accuse social media companies of designing their ‌platforms to be addictive and harming their mental health. ⁠Separately in August, Meta ‌agreed to pay up ​to $18 billion to settle U.S. addiction claims.

(Reporting by Sathvi G Bhat in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom ‌Hogue)

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