US Justice Department Sues TikTok and ByteDance Over Children’s Privacy Violations
On Friday, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, for failing to safeguard children’s privacy on the social media platform.
The US government accused TikTok of breaching the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which mandates that services directed at children must obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under the age of 13.
This lawsuit represents the latest in a series of US actions against TikTok and its Chinese parent company amid concerns that the platform improperly collects extensive data on American users for the Chinese government and influences content in potentially harmful ways.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joined the lawsuit, aiming to halt what it described as TikTok’s “unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that TikTok knowingly allowed children to create standard TikTok accounts, enabling them to create and share short-form videos and messages with adults and others on the platform.
According to the DOJ, TikTok collected personal information from these children without obtaining parental consent, violating COPPA.
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For years, millions of American children under the age of 13 have been using TikTok, and the platform has allegedly been collecting and retaining their personal information.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. The FTC referred the case to the DOJ in June and is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day from TikTok for improperly collecting data.
In response, TikTok stated that it had been collaborating with the FTC for over a year to address these concerns and expressed disappointment that the agency chose to pursue litigation instead of continuing to work towards a reasonable solution.
Reuters had first reported in 2020 that the FTC and the DOJ were investigating allegations that TikTok failed to comply with a 2019 agreement to protect children’s privacy.
With approximately 170 million US users, TikTok is currently fighting a new law that would require ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US assets by January 19 or face a ban. Additionally, the company faced fines from the European Union and the UK last year over its handling of children’s data.
On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a bill that would extend COPPA’s protections to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted advertising to kids and teens, and give parents and children the option to delete their information from social media platforms.
For the bill to become law, it would need to pass in the Republican-controlled House, which is currently on recess until September.