Tech Desk
Aug 03, 2024
TikTok, a popular social short-video hosting platform, is in hot water as two US agencies have filed a lawsuit against it.
The long-term war between TikTok and the US government has commenced a new chapter as the Department of Justice (DOJ) together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the short-video platform along with its parent company Bytedance for alleged widespread violations of children’s privacy laws.
As reported by The Washington Post, TikTok violated children's privacy laws as it was collecting data on American children younger than 13 years.
Read more: TikTok launches profile view feature for users with fewer than 5,000 followers
Moreover, in the legal complaint, the Justice Department stated that TikTok and its parent company have violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its implementing regulations.
It also stated that COPPA prohibits websites from knowingly collecting any personal information from children under the age of 13 unless they have obtained consent from those children’s parents. Whereas, it also requires websites to delete information collected from children at their parent’s request.
Furthermore, ByteDance is also facing allegations from the US law agency for being a national security threat.
The Justice Department has shown concern that the company might compelled to share user data with the Chinese government or manipulate content that would be against America’s favour.
This is not the first time that COPPA regulations have been violated as in 2019, TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly was subject to a court order, was asked to undertake specific measures to comply with COPPA and was also charged $5.7 million in 2019 and was ordered to delete children’s data.
However, TikTok has denied these allegations calling them factually incorrect. The company has also claimed that it has removed suspected underage users and has invested in screen-time limits, parental controls and other privacy protections for young users.
It’s important to note that this case is not related to the ongoing battle between TikTok and the US government over the TikTok ban that President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this year.
