Justice Department Sues TikTok Over Alleged Violations Of Child Privacy Laws

The Justice Department filed suit against TikTok and its parent ByteDance, claiming that the popular app violated children’s privacy laws.

The government alleged that since 2019, TikTok “knowingly permitted children to create regular TikTok accounts and to create, view, and share short-form videos and messages with adults and others on the regular TikTok platform. The defendants collected and retained a wide variety of personal information from these children without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents.”

According to the lawsuit, that is in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the accompanying regulations, which prohibits website operators from collecting or using personal date of children under 13 unless they obtain consent of parents.

The DOJ also claims that TikTok failed to honor parents’ requests to delete accounts and information when they discovered their child’s use.

Read the TikTok lawsuit.

“With this action, the Department seeks to ensure that TikTok honors its obligation to protect children’s privacy rights and parents’ efforts to protect their children,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement.

The DOJ was joined by the Federal Trade Commission in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California.

In a statement, TikTok said that they “disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices which are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”

TikTok added, “We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform. To that end, we offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors.”

President Joe Biden signed legislation earlier this year that requires TikTok parent ByteDance to divest the app, or face a ban on U.S. app stores. TikTok then sued, alleging that the new law, which enjoyed huge bipartisan support in Congress, violated the First Amendment.