Texas officials are reviewing 15 companies over their privacy practices for children using their services—including how they use minors’ data.
On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton stated his office would investigate the companies under House Bills 4 and 18 of the 88th Legislature’s regular session, which took effect earlier this year.
Social media giants Reddit, Instagram, and Discord are among the companies to be investigated. Character.AI, a Google-backed app that allows minors to talk to artificial intelligence-generated characters, is also being probed.
“Technology companies are on notice that my office is vigorously enforcing Texas’s strong data privacy laws,” explained Paxton. “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.”
HB 4, also known as the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, recognizes critical rights for Texas residents regarding their personal information. These rights include opting out of some data collection and deleting existing data.
HB 18, or the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act, requires digital service providers to protect minors from harmful collection practices like being able to sell their data without parental consent.
Both of the new laws have already been utilized by the attorney general’s office. In October, Paxton sued TikTok for illegally sharing minors’ data, per HB 18. Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit was filed in August against General Motors accusing the company of violating HB 4.
Zach Whiting, policy director and senior fellow for Better Tech for Tomorrow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told Texas Scorecard that the group supported Paxton’s latest investigation.
“Texas remains at the tip of the spear in protecting kids from abusive data collection practices and online harms inflicted upon them,” stated Whiting. “The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds General Paxton’s enforcement efforts and supports the efforts of lawmakers in the upcoming 89th Legislative session to protect kids online.”
Paxton’s decision to highlight Character.AI among those under investigation comes several days after Texas residents filed a federal lawsuit against the company.
According to the suit, a young girl was exposed to hypersexualized content that caused her to develop sexualized behaviors prematurely. She started using the chatbot service when she was just nine years old.
Two other cases involved a 17-year-old who was allegedly told by one chatbot that self-harm “felt good,” while a separate one sympathized with stories of children killing their parents.
Google is also a defendant in the suit filed in the United States District Court for Eastern Texas.
