TikTok’s Troubled Past: A New Lawsuit Accuses the App of Violating Children’s Privacy
TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform, is once again under fire, this time facing a new legal attack from the U.S. Justice Department. The government alleges that the platform has been illegally harvesting data from children, breaching a previous legal settlement, and "collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control." This latest development marks a significant escalation in the ongoing tussle between the U.S. government and the Chinese-owned app.
The new lawsuit, filed on Friday, stems from a 2019 settlement agreement TikTok entered into with the government. Back then, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, agreed to abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). This old but vital regulation restricts companies from collecting data on children without parental consent. The 2019 agreement stemmed from an earlier lawsuit against Musical.ly, a platform that ByteDance acquired and later merged with TikTok. However, a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation concluded that TikTok had violated the 2019 agreement, leading to the current litigation.
The lawsuit alleges that, instead of complying with the previous order, TikTok "spent years knowingly" allowing millions of children under 13 to register on the platform. The company then proceeded to collect extensive data on these minors, even going so far as to create "back doors" that allowed kids to bypass the age gate designed to screen children under 13. The lawsuit further claims that TikTok made it exceptionally difficult for parents to delete their children’s accounts or the associated data.
The alleged abuses weren’t confined to the main TikTok platform. The lawsuit also points to the TikTok Kids Mode, a version of the app marketed as more secure for children, claiming that data collection practices continued to violate COPPA even in this supposedly "protected" environment. The FTC states:
"…Even when it directed children to use the TikTok Kids Mode service, a more protected version for kids, the complaint charges that TikTok collected and used their personal information in violation of COPPA. TikTok collected numerous categories of information and far more data than it needed, such as information about children’s activities on the app and multiple types of persistent identifiers, which it used to build profiles on children, while failing to notify parents about the full extent of its data collection and use practices."
The lawsuit alleges that some of the reasons TikTok collected this data were to serve targeted advertising to children.
The FTC and the Justice Department issued strong statements regarding the new litigation. FTC Chair Lina M. Khan condemned TikTok’s actions, stating that the company "knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country." She emphasized the FTC’s commitment to protecting children online, particularly against increasingly sophisticated digital tools used to surveil and profit from their data.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton called the lawsuit "necessary" to prevent TikTok from repeating its alleged violations. He characterized ByteDance as "repeat offenders" operating "on a massive scale," emphasizing the urgency of stopping the company from collecting and using children’s data without parental consent.
While TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit, this is just the latest in a series of legal and regulatory challenges facing the app in the US. TikTok has been a thorn in the side of American authorities for years, not just because of its data collection practices, but also due to its Chinese ownership. The US government has expressed concerns about potential data security risks posed by a Chinese company controlling such a vast amount of American user data. This concern has led to attempts to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company, a move the Chinese company has consistently resisted. The deadline for ByteDance to divest its interest in the platform is set for January of next year.
Despite the ongoing scrutiny, TikTok remains a cultural juggernaut in the US. In 2023, the app was the most downloaded app in the US and generated revenue exceeding $16 billion. Its popularity, however, has been overshadowed by these ongoing controversies. The future of TikTok in the US remains uncertain, hanging in the balance between its cultural impact and the ongoing governmental challenges. While the platform continues to thrive, the allegations of data misuse raise serious concerns about the ethical and legal responsibilities of social media companies, particularly those targeting children, in the digital landscape.
This legal storm surrounding TikTok highlights the complex issues at the intersection of data privacy, national security, and social media influence. It underscores the need for continued dialogue and regulation to safeguard user privacy, especially that of children, while preserving the freedom and benefits of technology. This new lawsuit adds a chapter to the ongoing story of TikTok’s struggle for legitimacy in the US, and the outcome could have significant implications for the future of the platform and the industry as a whole.
