by Claire Harrington
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that the state is suing TikTok, saying the social media platform broke state laws by ignoring them.
The first, Florida House Bill 3, or the Online Protections for Minors Act, limits social media access for minors.
A bipartisan legislation passed in 2024, the Act requires social media platforms to prohibit children aged 13 and under from creating accounts, and to obtain parental consent for children ages 14 and 15.
Second, Florida accused TikTok of violating the state’s Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by mischaracterizing mature content as “infrequent/mild” and giving the app a 13+ age rating on the Apple Store.
The lawsuit calls these ratings “false,” having found intense sexual content, nudity, drugs and alcohol, strong profanity, self-harm messaging, and other adult content is “frequently and easily accessible” on the popular social media app.
In allowing children to access mature content, TikTok is “actively deceiving Florida parents about the risks of allowing their teens to access this platform,” the lawsuit read.
The platform’s own in-app safety measures fall short, too, the AG office claims. TikTok’s Restricted Mode and Family Pairing do not meaningfully filter or restrict content, and are easily deactivated by children.
Florida state officials acknowledged their use of undercover agents to actively monitor TikTok content as part of the investigation.
“Our evidence suggests that so many kids are on TikTok for upwards of six, seven, eight or more hours a day,” Uthmeier said in a statement.
“TikTok’s success hinges on its ability to addict children and teenagers to the platform,” Uthmeier noted. “TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law. We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profit over children’s safety. TikTok should expect to be held accountable.”
Representative Chip LaMarca said, “The State of Florida stands with families in protecting our children from the abuses of addictive social media apps.”
“Thank you to the AG for pursuing the fight against these bad actors,” he added.
According to the lawsuit, Tiktok is “intentionally addictive,” deploying habit-forming features such as “infinite scrolling, push notifications, personal interactive metrics, auto-play videos, and live-streaming.”
The Florida State Department says these tactics “prey upon young people’s unique psychological vulnerabilities.”
Despite evidence that compulsive social media use in young people can lead to loss of sleep, depression and anxiety, self-harm, and suicide, TikTok “deliberately and successfully targets its product to minors.”
TikTok has not yet responded publicly to the allegations.
Since his appointment by Gov. DeSantis last year, Uthmeier has vocally supported social media restrictions for minors, confronting companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Roblox for failing to shield children from inappropriate online content.
This lawsuit is the most recent move by the state to hold social media platforms accountable to age-related content restrictions.
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Claire Harrington is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Attorney General James Uthmeier” by Attorney General James Uthmeier.
