DOJ and FTC Sue TikTok for Violating Children’s Privacy Laws

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against TikTok. The suit accuses the social media platform of illegally collecting children’s data.

The complaint contends that TikTok, and its China-based parent company ByteDance, violated a federal law requiring kid-oriented apps and websites get parental consent before collecting personal data from children under 13 years old. In their lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, the DOJ and the FTC also claim TikTok and ByteDance failed to honor parents’ requests to have their children’s accounts deleted. The firms knew the accounts belonged to children under the age of 13 and chose not to delete them, according to the plaintiffs.

“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,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s civil division, said in a statement.

In the complaint, the DOJ and the FTC allege TikTok knowingly allows children to create accounts and retains their personal information without notifying parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13. The feature allows users to view videos but bars them from uploading content.

TikTok disagreed with the allegations, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”

The US filed the lawsuit following an FTC investigation that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly. In 2019, the US sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13. That same year, Musical.ly, which was acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok, agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.

In its defense, TikTok stated, “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.”