AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday afternoon that he is opening an investigation into Character.AI and 14 other technology companies for allegedly violating the state’s online privacy and child safety laws.
This comes after the Austin American-Statesman reported on Thursday that two Texas mothers are suing Character.AI in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot encouraged self-harm and violence and sent sexually explicit messages to mothers and children.
The Statesman attached a screenshot of a message the chatbot sent to a mother’s 17-year-old son, which was also included in the lawsuit. One of the messages the chatbot sent suggested that the chatbot understood why children would kill their parents, after the boy said his parents had restricted him from using his phone.
Another mother who filed the lawsuit claimed her 11-year-old daughter received sexually explicit messages from the chatbot and was being manipulated by the chatbot, according to the Statesman.
Paxton said in a news release that Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, Discord, and other companies are working to protect children from two Texas privacy laws: the Parental Rights Enhancement Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). He said he would investigate whether any laws were violated. .
The SCOPE Act is designed to protect children under 18 from viewing “harmful” content and prevent companies from collecting their data. The law took effect on September 1, 2024, but a federal judge issued an injunction on the “harm prevention” portion of the law.
TDPSA is another law enacted this year that establishes new requirements for how companies store, collect, and process Texans’ personal data. The law specifically requires companies to obtain consent before selling the data of children under 13.
“Technology companies know that my office is vigorously enforcing Texas’ strong data privacy laws. These investigations show that social media and AI companies are protecting children from exploitation and harm. “This is an important step in ensuring compliance with the law designed to do so,” Paxton said in the release.
Paxton sued TikTok in October, alleging that the platform violated scope laws by sharing personal data of minors.
Paxton also sued General Motors in August over its collection of user data, and reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta over the company’s collection of biometric data.
