The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against TikTok Inc., ByteDance Ltd. and their affiliates for “violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its regulations” in connection with the TikTok app.
COPPA prevents websites from gathering, using, or revealing personal information from kids under 13 without parental notice and consent. It also mandates the removal of such data upon parental request. In 2019, the government sued Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, for violating COPPA. Since then, the defendants have been under a court order to take specific steps to comply with COPPA.
According to the complaint, TikTok allowed children to create regular accounts and share videos and messages with adults without their parents’ consent. The defendants collected and kept personal information from these children, even from accounts created in “Kids Mode.” When parents asked to delete their children’s accounts, the defendants often didn’t comply. The defendants also had ineffective processes for identifying and deleting accounts created by children.
“The Department is deeply concerned that TikTok has continued to collect and retain children’s personal information despite a court order barring such conduct,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “With this action, the Department seeks to ensure that TikTok honors its obligation to protect children’s privacy rights and parents’ efforts to protect their children.”
The DOJ alleges that TikTok violated a court order and measures to ensure compliance with COPPA. TikTok is a hugely popular social media platform worldwide.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC 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.”
A TikTok spokesperson said the platform offers “age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards” and “proactively” removes users it suspects are underage.
“We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” said TikTok in a statement.
The U.S. government and TikTok are in a legal battle. President Biden signed a bill earlier this year to push TikTok’s parent company to sell its stake in the platform or risk a ban in the U.S. TikTok has challenged this in federal court.
