The US Department of Justice has taken legal action against TikTok for allegedly violating a child privacy law, as well as breaching a 2019 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission regarding earlier privacy transgressions. The suit stems from a prior probe by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which referred its privacy case to the Department of Justice earlier this year.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had been investigating whether TikTok had breached the terms of a prior privacy settlement with Musical.ly, which was acquired by ByteDance before the launch of TikTok. According to the investigation, it was found that TikTok had “blatantly” breached both the terms of the 2019 settlement and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The Justice Department also flagged TikTok’s compilation of private information about children on its platform, as well as its refusal to comply with requests to delete such data.
Since its inception in 2019, TikTok has allowed minors to establish common accounts, allowing them to create, consume, and disseminate short-form content, including videos and messages, alongside adults and other users on the platform. The defendants amassed and retained an array of sensitive information from these children without either informing or obtaining consent from the minors’ parents. Even for accounts created under TikTok’s “Youngsters Mode,” a pared-down version designed for users under 13, the defendants illegally obtained and stored young users’ email addresses and other sensitive personal information. When parents discovered their children’s online accounts and asked the defendants to remove all content and close the accounts, the defendants persistently refused to comply with these demands. The defendants were found to have inadequate and ineffective internal procedures for identifying and shutting down TikTok accounts created by minors, ultimately exacerbating the issue at hand.
TikTok responded to the allegations, acknowledging that it had previously taken steps to address several of the issues highlighted by the Justice Department. “We strongly dispute these claims, many of which are tied to past events and practices that may be misinformed or have already been resolved.” “We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made in safeguarding children, and we’ll continue to upgrade and refine our platform.” To ensure a safe experience, we offer age-appropriate content with robust safeguards in place, automatically remove suspected underage users, and provide voluntary features such as default screen time limits, Household Pairing, and enhanced privacy protection for minors.
As TikTok prepares to confront the Justice Department in federal court, it faces an unwelcome lawsuit at a precarious moment, just as the app is set to clash with regulators over a bill aimed at forcing ByteDance to divest its US operations and potentially sell the platform.
