US Government Files Lawsuit Against TikTok for Alleged Massive Child Privacy Violations
The US Department of Justice has initiated a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media giant of illegally gathering data from children and neglecting to delete accounts when requested by parents. The lawsuit claims that TikTok’s actions represent a “massive-scale” violation of child privacy laws, which mandate parental consent for collecting data from users under 13 years old.
The Justice Department describes TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, as “repeat offenders,” referencing a similar case from 2019. TikTok, however, disputes these allegations, asserting that it has made significant efforts to safeguard children online. The company highlights its measures such as automatic screen-time limits and enhanced privacy settings for younger users.
In its complaint, the US government accuses TikTok of inadequate measures for detecting underage accounts and of obstructing parental attempts to delete these accounts. The filing notes that a review of 1,700 parental requests between 2019 and 2020 revealed that 30% of the accounts remained active as of November 2021.
The complaint also criticizes TikTok’s moderation practices, stating that moderators had limited access to user content and only a few seconds to determine the age of account holders. The Department of Justice is seeking court orders to halt TikTok’s practices and impose penalties for each alleged violation.
The lawsuit intensifies the scrutiny on TikTok and ByteDance, which are also facing potential bans in the US due to national security concerns. TikTok boasts over 1 billion global users and more than 170 million in the US, with surveys indicating that over 60% of American teenagers aged 13-17 use the platform, many on a daily basis.
The US government’s legal action aims to end TikTok’s alleged large-scale invasions of children’s privacy and enforce stricter compliance with data protection laws.
