In a fresh escalation of regulatory scrutiny on social media platforms’ handling of underage users, the U.S. state of Florida has launched a new lawsuit against ByteDance-owned TikTok, accusing the platform of violating state child protection laws by enabling children under 14 to create accounts and exposing young users to harmful violent and sexual content.
The legal action was filed Tuesday by Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier, who leveled sharp accusations that TikTok deliberately misled parents and sidelined child safety to prioritize corporate profit gains. “TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law,” Uthmeier outlined in an official statement accompanying the lawsuit. “We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritise profit over children’s safety.”
At the core of the complaint is a demand for a court injunction to force TikTok to fully comply with Florida’s House Bill 3 (H.B. 3), a landmark child protection regulation for social media that took effect in January 2025. The statute explicitly bans social platforms from permitting users under the age of 14 to open personal accounts, and mandates verifiable parental consent for any account registration by users between 14 and 16 years old.
TikTok has forcefully pushed back against the state’s allegations, pushing back on claims that it has failed to enforce child safety rules. A company spokesperson noted that the platform has already been in ongoing communication with Florida state officials over compliance issues, and had previously taken action to notify users under 14 that their accounts would be suspended for violating the platform’s age policies. “We are evaluating the state’s complaint and are prepared to defend our strong record on minor safety,” the spokesperson added.
The Florida lawsuit is far from an isolated action: TikTok already faces coordinated legal challenges from more than 25 other U.S. state attorneys general, who argue the platform’s algorithm is intentionally designed to foster addiction among young users, and has contributed to the growing youth mental health crisis across the country.
This latest case adds to a rapidly growing wave of legal pressure on large social media corporations across the United States, as state regulators move to enforce stricter child safety safeguards and force platforms to prove that protecting young users is prioritized above unbridled user growth and profit margins.