By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday against TikTok and parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app.
The government said TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that requires services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13.
The lawsuit is the latest U.S. action against TikTok and its Chinese parent over fears the company improperly collects vast amounts of data on Americans for the Chinese government, while influencing content in a way that potentially harms Americans.
The suit, also joined by the Federal Trade Commission, said it was aimed at putting an end “to TikTok’s unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.”
The DOJ said TikTok knowingly permitted children to create regular TikTok accounts, and then create and share short-form videos and messages with adults and others on the regular TikTok platform. TikTok collected personal information from these children without obtaining consent from their parents.
The U.S. alleges that for years millions of American children under 13 have been using TikTok and the site “has been collecting and retaining children’s personal information.”
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan, whose agency in June referred the case to the Justice Department.
The FTC is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day from TikTok for improperly collecting data.
TikTok did not immediately comment but said in June it had been working with the FTC for more than a year to address the agency’s concerns and said it was “disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution.”
Reuters in 2020 first reported the FTC and Justice Department were looking into allegations the popular social media app failed to live up to a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting children’s privacy.
The Chinese-owned short-video platform boasts around 170 million U.S. users, and is currently fighting a new law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
The company last year faced fines from the European Union and U.K. over its handling of children’s data.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senate passed a bill that would extend COPPA to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted advertising to kids and teens, and give parents and kids the option to delete their information from social media platforms.
The bill would need to pass in the Republican-controlled House, currently on recess until September, to become law.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy and David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Chris Sanders)
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