US Lawsuit Targets TikTok on Children’s Privacy

According to a source familiar with the matter, the U.S. Department of Justice intends to centre on an upcoming lawsuit against TikTok on accusations that the social media platform violated children’s privacy rights, rather than on allegations it misled adult users about its data privacy practices.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigated the potential violations by TikTok and its parent company ByteDance and referred the case to the Justice Department on Tuesday.

“The investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest,” the FTC said in a statement at the time.

In 2020, the FTC and the U.S. Justice Department were looking into allegations that the popular social media app failed to live up to a 2019 agreement to protect children’s privacy.

TikTok has said it strongly disagrees with the FTC’s allegations and is disappointed the agency decided to pursue a lawsuit.

The probe is separate from ongoing concerns in Congress about the potential that the Chinese government could improperly access the data of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users.

TikTok denies the allegation.

TikTok is challenging a law passed in April that requires its Chinese-parent ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.

REUTERS