“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” said Brian M. Boynton, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, claiming that the social media platform and its China-based parent company have repeatedly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said Federal Trade Commission Chairperson Lina Khan, whose agency is litigating the claim alongside the Department of Justice. “The F.T.C. will continue to use the full scope of its authorities to protect children online—especially as firms deploy increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data.”
In its complaint, the Justice Department said that TikTok’s practices amount to a “massive-scale” invasion of children’s digital privacy. Attorneys for the government emphasized that federal law requires the owners of kid-oriented applications to obtain parental consent before collecting personally-identifiable information.
TikTok also allegedly ignored parents’ requests to have their children’s accounts deleted and, in some cases, failed to remove the accounts of children under the age of 13.
“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” said Brian M. Boynton, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
The lawsuit, notes The Associated Press, was filed in coordination with the Federal Trade Commission. The decision to file was made after F.T.C. investigators determined that TikTok is likely not complying with the terms of a settlement involving its predecessor, Musical.ly.
Under the terms of the agreement, Musical.ly agreed to pay more than $5.7 million and consented to a court order requiring better compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
But the Department of Justice says that TikTok, which was acquired by ByteDance in 2019 and merged with Musical.ly, retains the information of its underage users without first notifying their parents. This practice allegedly extends even to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a better-protected version of TikTok intended for users under the age of 13.
The Justice Department also claims that children can easily bypass safety-related requirements by simply creating accounts through third-party services, many of which have no age restrictions.
TikTok has since released a statement denying the government’s accusations, insisting that many of the violations and incidents listed in the lawsuit “relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”
“We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform,” TikTok said. “To that end, we offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors.”
Sources
Justice Department sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children’s data
TikTok sued for ‘massive’ invasion of child privacy
U.S. sues TikTok, alleging millions of child privacy violations
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