AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday afternoon that he is launching an investigation into Character.AI and 14 other technology firms over alleged violations of the state’s online privacy and safety laws for children. 

What You Need To Know

  • This comes after the Austin American-Statesman reported on Thursday that two Texas mothers were suing Character.AI in federal court

  • The lawsuit alleged that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot was encouraging self-harm and violence as well as sending sexually explicit messages the mother's children

  • Paxton said in a news release that he will investigate Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, Discord and other companies over whether they violated two Texas privacy laws

  • In October, Paxton sued TikTok, claiming the platform violated the SCOPE Act by sharing the personal data of minors

This comes after the Austin American-Statesman reported on Thursday that two Texas mothers were suing Character.AI in federal court. The lawsuit alleged that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot was encouraging self-harm and violence as well as sending sexually explicit messages the mother's children. 

The Statesman attached screenshots of the messages the chatbot sent to one mother's 17-year-old son–which were included in the lawsuit. One message the chatbot sent suggested it understood why children murder their parents, after the teen said his parents restricted his phone use. 

The other mother in the suit claimed that her 11-year-old daughter was receiving sexually explicit messages from the chatbot and it was manipulating her, according to the Statesman. 

Paxton said in a news release that he will investigate Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, Discord and other companies over whether they violated two Texas privacy laws–the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). 

The SCOPE Act was designed to protect children under the age of 18 from seeing “harmful” content and prevent companies from collecting their data. The law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2024, but a federal judge issued an injunction on the “harm prevention” part of the act.  

The TDPSA is another law that was enacted this year that established new requirements for how companies can store, collect and process Texans’ personal data. The act specifically says that a business must get consent before selling the data of a child under the age of 13. 

“Technology companies are on notice that my office is vigorously enforcing Texas’s strong data privacy laws. These investigations are a critical step toward ensuring that social media and AI companies comply with our laws designed to protect children from exploitation and harm,” said Paxton in the release.

In October, Paxton sued TikTok, claiming the platform violated the SCOPE Act by sharing the personal data of minors. 

Paxton also sued General Motors in August over its collection of user data, and he reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta over the company’s collection of biometric data.