US Files Lawsuit Against TikTok for Widespread Privacy Violations Involving Children Under 13

US Files Lawsuit Against TikTok for Widespread Privacy Violations Involving Children Under 13
Author: Prime Pulse Press

The U.S. Justice Department has initiated a significant lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, citing failures to protect the privacy of children using the social media platform. This action is part of the Biden administration's ongoing efforts to regulate and oversee the operations of social media sites.

According to the lawsuit filed on Friday, TikTok is accused of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This act mandates that services targeting children must obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under the age of 13. TikTok, a platform with approximately 170 million U.S. users, is also currently contesting a new law that could compel ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. assets by January 19 or face a potential ban.

This legal action adds to the series of measures taken by the U.S. government against TikTok and ByteDance over concerns that the company is amassing vast amounts of data on American users for the Chinese government. There are also worries about content manipulation that could adversely affect Americans. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which joined the lawsuit, emphasized that the goal is to halt "TikTok's unlawful massive-scale invasions of children's privacy."

Representative Frank Pallone, the leading Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, highlighted the necessity of separating TikTok from Chinese Communist Party influence. He stated, "We simply cannot continue to allow our adversaries to harvest vast troves of Americans’ sensitive data." In response, TikTok disagreed with the allegations, asserting that many pertain to outdated practices that have already been corrected. The company expressed pride in its efforts to safeguard children and pledged to continue enhancing its platform.

The DOJ's complaint details that TikTok knowingly allowed children to create regular accounts and share videos and messages with adults, collecting their personal information without parental consent. The U.S. government claims that millions of children under 13 have been using TikTok for years, during which the platform has been improperly collecting and retaining their data.

FTC Chair Lina Khan remarked, "TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country." The FTC seeks substantial penalties, potentially amounting to billions of dollars, based on fines of up to $51,744 per violation per day.

This legal pursuit follows a 2020 Reuters report that revealed the FTC and DOJ's investigation into whether TikTok adhered to a 2019 agreement designed to protect children's privacy. Additionally, TikTok faced fines from the European Union and the U.K. last year over its handling of children's data.

In a related development, the U.S. Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to extend COPPA protections to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted advertising to minors, and enable parents and children to delete their information from social media platforms. For this bill to become law, it must still pass the Republican-controlled House, which is currently on recess until September.

Stay tuned for more updates on this evolving story.