Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced investigations into 15 companies, including Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, and Discord, for potential violations of the SCOPE Act and TDPSA concerning children's privacy. The investigations target practices such as unauthorized sharing of minors' personal data and failure to provide parental controls. This action is part of Texas's broader initiative to enforce data privacy laws.
In-house legal teams should review all agreements involving underage users, including terms of service, privacy policies, and data processing addendums with vendors or platforms that collect/minors' data. Focus on clauses governing data collection, sharing, retention, and parental consent mechanisms. Ensure contracts incorporate explicit requirements for age verification, parental consent/opt-out processes, data minimization for minors, and restrictions on profiling or targeted advertising toward children. Amendments may be needed to align with SCOPE Act's parental empowerment provisions and TDPSA's restrictions on processing minors' sensitive data, including adding audit rights and data deletion protocols.
Entity
Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, Discord, and 11 other companies
Also known as: Character.AI
Industry
TechnologyTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Open AI Global, LLC and affiliated entities, alleging that ChatGPT was marketed as safe and reliable without disclosing risks of inaccurate or harmful outputs. The suit also alleges harms to minors and collection of their data without parental oversight; the release states no monetary penalty or specific remedy imposed.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with Lululemon USA Inc. after investigating potential PFAS and consumer representations about product safety. The agreement requires the company to maintain supply-chain chemical standards, verify vendor compliance through testing or certifications, and take corrective action for three years; no monetary penalty is stated.
$3.0M
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a settlement requiring Temu to protect Texans’ sensitive personal data from exposure to the Chinese Communist Party and to strengthen product-safety practices. Temu must pay Texas $3 million, comply with data-security requirements backed by a potential $8 million annual penalty, conduct annual independent product testing, and take specified action on products found to contain harmful substances.
$773.0M
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that a multistate coalition had secured an opioid settlement with Albertsons, which would require the grocery chain to pay more than $773 million nationally once final. Texas and its political subdivisions may receive up to $57.8 million for opioid abatement; the release does not identify privacy violations.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Gerber Products Company and Nestlé USA, Inc., alleging that Gerber made deceptive safety and testing claims while its baby food contained dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals. The lawsuit asserts claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act; the release does not report a settlement, monetary penalty, or court order.
$1.5M
The Texas Attorney General obtained a judgment holding Rubinsky Roofing LLC liable for 27 violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including deceptive practices involving older consumers and payment for unnecessary or unfinished repairs. The judgment requires more than $1.5 million in civil penalties, allocates at least $500,000 to consumer restitution, and permanently bars the company and its owner from the practices at issue.