The United States ustice Department on Friday (local time) filed a lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app.
Washinton, DC: A lawsuit was filed against Chinese short video app TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app. US Justice Department stated that TikTok violated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which are intended for young folks under 13, must obtain approval from their parents prior to collecting any personal information from these young users.
Notably, the Chinese app is quite popular in America and has around 170 million US users. It is currently fighting a new law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US assets by January 19 or ultimately it will face a stringent ban.
The recent US lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent represents the latest measure in a series of actions stemming from apprehensions that the company is possibly infiltrating the privacy of Americans. Reportedly, a large volume of American data is being amassed and misused to serve the interests of the Chinese government, potentially leading to adverse impacts. This legal move is endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission, asserting that it’s a rebuttal to TikTok’s breach of laws protecting children’s privacy. Frank Pallone, a key Democrat and member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, emphasized on the urgency to keep TikTok free from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party. He stressed on the innate dangers of granting adversaries access to critical, sensitive American data.
However, TikTok on Friday stated that it disagrees, “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 we will continue to update and improve the platform.”
The Justice Department has slammed TikTok, alleging the platform lets kids below the age of 13 open standard accounts, enabling them to exchange videos and messages with adults amongst others. The claim is that TikTok has been amassing personal data from these youngsters without the agreement of their parents. According to the US, an enormous number of American children appear to have been frequently using TikTok over the years, with their private information stored by the platform.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan.
The FTC is pushing to impose hefty daily penalties on TikTok, up to $51,744 per individual violation, over the company’s suspect data gathering behaviour. This has the potential to total up into billions should TikTok be proven liable. In a fresh twist, the US Senate gave the nod to a bill intending to broaden the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to safeguard adolescents till 17 years. The proposed legislation also sets out to curb advertising aimed specifically at kids and teenagers, while gracing the parents and young users with an option to delete their information from social media sites.
Notably, the bill needs to be passed in the House, which is currently on recess until September, to become law.