Federal Complaint Filed Against TikTok
On Friday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the popular social media platform of violating children’s online privacy laws. The complaint, lodged in a California federal court, also implicates TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in the alleged misconduct.
Allegations of Privacy Violations
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok and ByteDance breached the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by failing to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. Furthermore, it claims the companies did not honor parental requests to delete their children’s accounts, even when it was known the accounts belonged to underage users.
Justice Department’s Statement
“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 Justice Department’s Civil Division.
TikTok’s Response
TikTok refuted the allegations, asserting that many of the claims are based on outdated or inaccurate information. “We offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched features such as default screen time limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors,” the company stated.
Background and Previous Settlement
The current lawsuit follows an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into whether TikTok adhered to a prior settlement involving its predecessor, Musical.ly. In 2019, Musical.ly was sued for violating COPPA, leading to a $5.7 million settlement and a court order mandating compliance with the act. The government now asserts that TikTok has not complied with this order.
Specific Violations
The complaint details that TikTok knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. It also accuses TikTok of sharing data with other companies to increase platform engagement among young users. Additionally, TikTok allegedly facilitated account creation without age verification or parental approval through third-party services, resulting in numerous “age unknown” accounts.
