US Government Sues TikTok for Alleged Children’s Privacy Violations

The US Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Friday against TikTok, accusing the app of failing to prevent children from joining and unlawfully collecting their personal data.

The lawsuit alleges that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing children to create accounts without parental knowledge or consent. It claims that TikTok collects and retains personal information from children, including email addresses, phone numbers, and location data, and often ignores parental requests to delete this information.

This lawsuit follows a 2019 agreement between TikTok and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve allegations that TikTok had illegally collected personal information from children under 13. The settlement required TikTok to comply with COPPA. However, the Justice Department now claims that TikTok continues to violate both the law and the 2019 court order.

Even though TikTok offers a “Kids Mode” for users under 13, the complaint filed in a California district court asserts that TikTok knowingly allows children under 13 to create accounts in the regular version of the app and collects extensive personal information from them without obtaining verifiable parental consent.

This lawsuit adds to the growing scrutiny of TikTok, which is also embroiled in a legal battle over a potential US ban and has faced allegations of failing to protect young users. In Europe, TikTok was fined for violating children’s privacy protections.

Earlier this year, the FTC began investigating potential COPPA violations by TikTok. The Justice Department filed the lawsuit following a referral from the FTC.

“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.

TikTok, however, disputes the allegations. Spokesperson Michael Hughes stated, “We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed. We are proud of our efforts to protect children and will continue to update and improve the platform. We offer age-appropriate experiences, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have launched features like default screen time limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors.”

The lawsuit claims that TikTok has not done enough to ensure children under 13 are kept off the app. It alleges that until at least late 2020, TikTok allowed children who were initially rejected for being underage to try again with a different birthdate. Additionally, it states that TikTok failed to provide a simple process for parents to request data deletion and often did not honor such requests.

The Justice Department seeks civil penalties and a court order to prevent future COPPA violations through this lawsuit.