August 5, 2024 at 03:40PM
The Justice Department and FTC filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for allegedly violating children’s online privacy protections. TikTok is accused of allowing children to create accounts and collect personal information without parental consent. FTC chair Lina Khan emphasized the need to protect children online from privacy violations.
At the meeting, it was discussed that the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission filed a civil lawsuit against TikTok on August 2. This was due to allegations that both the app and its parent company, ByteDance, have violated children’s online privacy protections. It was mentioned that in 2019, TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, was sued for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) which prohibits the collection of personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. Despite a court order to comply with COPPA, it was alleged that TikTok allowed children to create accounts and content on the platform, collecting and retaining personal information without proper consent or notification to parents. The Department of Justice and FTC also stated that TikTok failed to honor requests from parents to delete underage profiles. In response, FTC chair Lina Khan emphasized the intention to use authorities to protect children online, especially given the increasing use of digital tools to gather and profit from children’s data.