US Sues TikTok Over ‘Massive’ Children’s Privacy Breach

The US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have filed a lawsuit against TikTok and parent company ByteDance claiming they failed to protect children’s privacy.

The lawsuit filed late on Friday said TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law prohibiting the collection, use or disclosure of personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.

TikTok knowingly allowed children to create standard accounts and to create and share short videos and messages with adults and others on the platform, the lawsuit said.

The platform also collected personal information from these children without consent from their parents, the agencies said.

Child privacy

The lawsuit said it aimed to put an end “to TikTok’s unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy”.

For years children under 13 have been using the platform and TikTok “has been collecting and retaining children’s personal information”, the lawsuit said.

“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC chair Lina Khan.

The FTC is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day for the improper collection of children’s data.

It was reported in 2020 that the FTC and Justice Department were investigating allegations that TikTok failed to adhere to a 2019 agreement intended to protect children’s privacy.

The FTC referred the child-privacy case to the Justice Department in June.

‘Strongly disagree’

TikTok said at the time that it had been working with the FTC for more than a year to address its concerns.

“We strongly disagree with the FTC’s allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” the company said.

In 2019 TikTok settled FTC claims of violations of COPPA which alleged Musical.ly, a startup acquired by TikTok, was aware children used the app but did not seek parental consent before collecting their data.

TikTok paid a then-record $5.7 million (£4.5m) civil fine and agreed to ongoing compliance requirements.

Legal pressure

The European Commission is also investigating TikTok under Digital Services Act rules related to the protection of minors, advertising transparency, data access for researchers and risk management for addictive design and harmful content.

Last year the company was fined by the EU and the UK over its handling of children’s data.

The privacy case is separate from legal dispute over a law that would force Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US assets or be banned by 19 January.

TikTok, ByteDance and a group of US content creators are challenging the law in a case set for a hearing in September.