Florida sues TikTok over child safety law requiring account restrictions for minors

Florida has sued TikTok, alleging the social media platform is violating the state’s child safety law that bars children under 14 from creating social media accounts and requires parental consent for 15- and 16-year-olds, according to a lawsuit filed Monday and reported by The Hill.

The suit targets TikTok’s product practices related to account creation for minors, arguing that the company allows children in covered age groups to create accounts in ways that conflict with Florida’s statutory requirements. Florida’s claims focus on access mechanisms that, in the state’s view, do not comply with the law’s age-based restrictions and consent structure.

Under Florida’s law as described in the report, children under 14 are banned from all social media platforms, while parental consent is required for 15- and 16-year-olds to create social media accounts. The report says the legal challenge is tied to House Bill 3, which is part of the state’s child-safety framework governing minors’ ability to access social media.

The lawsuit is led by Florida’s attorney general, according to the report. It seeks legal remedies that would require TikTok to bring its account creation and related processes into compliance with Florida’s statutory requirements, and it argues that the platform’s actions have breached the state’s authority to regulate child safety in the online environment.

The case adds to a growing set of state-level disputes over how online platforms handle minors’ accounts and consent mechanisms, with states using child-protection and consumer-safety laws to regulate platform design. The Florida filing also raises questions about how such requirements apply to widely used services that operate nationally and allow users to access content across state lines.

Legal proceedings will turn on the scope of Florida’s child safety statute, how it defines covered age groups and account creation, and whether TikTok’s practices as implemented violate the law as written. The outcome could also affect how other platforms and advertisers, and parents and teens in Florida, navigate online account registration requirements going forward.

A court will determine whether Florida can enforce the law against TikTok and whether any defenses raised by the company are sufficient. In the near term, the lawsuit’s progression will depend on procedural steps after filing, including briefing and any court-ordered timelines for discovery or further compliance demands.