The Chinese-owned short video platform “illegally collected and retained personal information from children,” according to the Justice Department
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app.
According to a DOJ filing on Friday, TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information if users are under 13.
The DOJ said TikTok knowingly allowed children to create accounts on the app and create and share videos with adults. The platform collected information from young users without parental consent, it said.
“Defendants unlawfully collected and retained children’s email addresses and other types of personal information. Furthermore, when parents discovered their children’s accounts and asked Defendants to delete the accounts and the information contained therein, Defendants routinely failed to honor those requests,” says the DOJ statement.
TikTok said on Friday that many of the allegations “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,” said the company.
TikTok’s most recent case was referred to the DOJ by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June. The FTC is seeking penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day from TikTok.
TikTok has long been in the crosshairs of the US government, which has previously dubbed the platform “threat to national security” due to its Chinese ownership. The video-sharing app has around 170 million users in the US. The company is currently fighting a new US law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US assets by January 19 or face a complete ban.
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