The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit on Friday against TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance, accusing them of failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media platform. The DOJ contends that TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which mandates services aimed at children to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under the age of 13.
Fox Business reports that the lawsuit, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joined after conducting its own investigation into TikTok and referring the findings to the DOJ, seeks to halt what it describes as “TikTok’s unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.” According to the DOJ, TikTok knowingly allowed children to create accounts, enabling them to share videos and messages on the platform, while collecting their personal information without parental consent.
For years, millions of American children under 13 have been using TikTok, and the company has been collecting and retaining their personal information, the government alleges. “TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. The FTC is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day, potentially resulting in billions of dollars in fines if TikTok is found liable.
In response, TikTok pushed back on the lawsuit’s claims, arguing that the allegations pertain to past practices that have since been addressed. “We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” a TikTok spokesperson told FOX Business. “We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform. To that end, 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.”
ByteDance is facing a January 19, 2025, deadline to sell its U.S. assets, or the short-form video platform could face a ban in the U.S. TikTok and ByteDance have filed a separate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this requirement, which is pending in federal court.
Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill that would extend COPPA to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted ads to kids and teens, and give parents and children the option to delete their information from social media platforms. The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday with a bipartisan 91-3 vote and will need to pass the House of Representatives, which is currently in recess until September, and be signed by President Biden to become law.
