New York
CNN
–
TikTok failed to prevent children from entering the program and it did collected their data illegally, the US Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday.
The lawsuit accuses TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing children to create accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent. TikTok also collects and stores personal information from children, such as email addresses, phone numbers and location information, and fails to comply with parents’ requests to delete their children’s information, the case states.
Friday’s lawsuit stems from a 2019 agreement between TikTok and the US Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations that it collected personal information from children under 13. required the company to take specific steps to comply with COPPA. The Justice Department says TikTok continues to violate the law, as well as a 2019 court order.
Although it offers a “Kids Mode” for users under 13, TikTok still “knowingly allows children under 13 to create accounts with the normal TikTok experience and collect extensive information to those children without providing parental notification or obtaining verified parental consent,” according to the complaint, filed in California district court.
The case marks the latest review of the popular short-form video app, which is also in a legal battle over a law that could get the app banned in the United States. TikTok has also faced accusations in the past that it failed to keep new users safe, and fined in Europe for breaching children’s privacy protection.
The FTC began investigating possible COPPA violations by TikTok earlier this year, sources told CNN at the time. Friday’s lawsuit was filed by the Justice Department after being referred to the Federal Trade Commission.
“TikTok has knowingly and repeatedly violated children’s privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan said in a statement Friday.
A TikTok spokesperson denied the allegations.
“We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are inappropriate or have never been resolved,” TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said in a statement. “We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to improve and improve the platform. To that end, we provide an age-appropriate experience with strong protections, removing suspected minor users , and we’ve voluntarily launched features like screen time limits, Family Joining, and more privacy protections for kids.”
But TikTok hasn’t done enough to ensure children under 13 are kept out of the app, Friday’s lawsuit alleges. Among those charges, the lawsuit says until “at least as late as 2020,” if a child tries to sign up for an account but is denied after providing a date of birth that indicates they’re under 13. , TikTok didn’t stop them from trying again in a different way. date of birth “although at the time (TikTok) knew from the date of birth that the user had previously provided that the user was a child.”
The lawsuit also says that even if a parent can access their child’s account, TikTok “failed to provide an easy process for parents to request deletion” for the child’s data, calling ts The deletion process is “combined”. It also said that even if parents sent a request, TikTok “often did not honor it”.
In the lawsuit, the DOJ is seeking civil penalties and an injunction to prevent future COPPA violations.
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