The U.S. Justice Department, on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media giant of repeatedly violating the privacy of children under 13. The complaint alleges that TikTok knowingly collected personal data from young users without parental consent and failed to comply with a 2019 court order to protect children’s privacy.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court Friday, claims TikTok allowed children to create accounts without parental knowledge, collected extensive data from them, and ignored parents’ requests to delete accounts and personal information.
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The FTC investigation revealed that TikTok continued to maintain accounts for underage users even after the 2019 court order, often classifying them as “age unknown.”
The FTC asserts that TikTok currently has millions of these “age unknown” accounts, many belonging to users under 13.
“For years, Defendants (TikTok) have knowingly allowed children under 13 to create and use TikTok accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent, have collected extensive data from those children, and have failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and personal information,” the DOJ said in its complaint.
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TikTok allegedly collected personal data from these young users to target advertising, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This allegedly illegal data collection occurred even within TikTok’s Kids Mode service.
TikTok is also accused of making it difficult for parents to delete their children’s accounts and of outright refusing deletion requests.
The FTC seeks a court order forcing TikTok to comply with COPPA and pay significant civil penalties, potentially up to $52,000 per violation.
This lawsuit is part of a broader trend of legal actions against social media companies for their impact on children’s mental health and privacy.
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However, this particular case focuses solely on TikTok’s alleged violations of child privacy laws. The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for how social media platforms handle the data of young users in the future.
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