U.S. sues TikTok and ByteDance for collecting the personal data of children without parental consent

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on Friday accusing the firm and the app of multiple violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The popular short-form video app is expected to have 1.8 billion monthly users by the end of this year and is also accused of violating a settlement it reached with another federal agency.

The latest allegations claim that TikTok and its Chinese-based parent company violated a federal law by failing to obtain parental consent before collecting the personal data of children under 13. Additionally, both the app and ByteDance were accused of ignoring requests from parents who wanted their children's accounts deleted. Even when the app and the company knew that an account was being used by a child under 13, they failed to take action.

As you would expect, TikTok denied the allegations, "many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed." TikTok points out that it proactively removes accounts belonging to underage children and that it offers policies such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and other features that protect minors. With the default screentime limits, a user under 18 can use TikTok for 60 minutes a day after which a passcode needs to be entered to continue.

Those aged 13 to 17 are able to tap in their own passcode every half hour to extend their TikTok session while a parent or guardian has to provide the passcode for a TikTok user under 13 to continue a TikTok session.

The lawsuit was filed following an investigation by the FTC that determined TikTok and ByteDance did not comply with the terms of a previous settlement that involved TikTok's predecessor Musical.ly. Back in 2019 Musical.ly, which had been purchased by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok, paid $5.7 million to settle charges that it violated the COPPA by not telling parents of children under 13 that it was collecting the children's personal data. The settlement also forced TikTok and ByteDance to comply with COPPA which the government says has not happened.

The current complaint says that TikTok and ByteDance "knowingly" allowed children to open accounts and collect their personal data without parental consent. The government also says that this personal data was shared with Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer. The complaint filed by the DOJ and FTC says that the violations committed by TikTok and ByteDance have allowed millions of kids under 13 to use the regular TikTok app exposing them to adults and adult content.