New York: The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, accusing them of failing to safeguard children’s privacy on the popular social media app. This legal action is part of a broader crackdown by the Biden administration on TikTok.
The government alleges that TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which mandates that services targeting children must obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under 13.
With approximately 170 million users in the U.S., TikTok is facing mounting pressure as it battles a new law that could force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban. The lawsuit, supported by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), aims to address what it describes as “unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.”
Representative Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, emphasized the importance of separating TikTok from Chinese Communist Party control. “We simply cannot continue to allow our adversaries to harvest vast troves of Americans’ sensitive data,” he stated.
TikTok responded by disputing the allegations, claiming that many relate to past practices that are either inaccurate or have been addressed. “We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform,” the company said.
The DOJ’s lawsuit asserts that TikTok allowed children to create regular accounts and share videos and messages without proper parental consent. The U.S. government argues that millions of American children under 13 have been using TikTok while the company has 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, whose agency referred the case to the DOJ in June.
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The FTC is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day from TikTok, potentially amounting to billions if TikTok is found liable. The investigation into TikTok’s practices began in 2020, following reports by Reuters about the company’s failure to adhere to a 2019 privacy agreement.
In addition to facing fines from the European Union and U.K. over similar issues, TikTok is now contending with new legislative developments in the U.S. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill to extend COPPA to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted advertising to minors, and allow parents and children to delete their information from social media platforms. The bill must still pass the Republican-controlled House, which is currently in recess until September.
