The US government has filed a new lawsuit against TikTok, claiming the company illegally collected children’s data and didn’t respond when parents tried to delete their children’s accounts.
The Department of Justice said TikTok’s actions were a “massive-scale” invasion of child privacy, breaking laws that require parental consent for data collection from children under 13.
Officials called TikTok and its parent company ByteDance “repeat offenders,” noting a similar case in 2019. TikTok denied the claims, saying it was “proud” of its efforts to protect children.
The company said it proactively removed underage users and added protections like screen-time limits and extra privacy measures for minors.
TikTok disagreed with the allegations, stating many were about past practices that were either incorrect or already addressed. They said they would continue to improve the platform to protect children.
The lawsuit increases pressure on TikTok and ByteDance, who are already fighting a potential US ban. The US accused TikTok of poor screening for underage accounts and making it hard for parents to delete them. A review found that 30% of deletion requests from parents between 2019 and 2020 were still active in November 2021.
Moderators checking underage accounts had limited time and tools, only acting if a child’s age was explicitly stated. The US government wants the court to stop TikTok’s actions and impose penalties for each violation.
Brian Boynton from the Justice Department said the action is necessary to stop TikTok from collecting and using young children’s private information without parental consent.
TikTok, with over 1 billion users worldwide and 170 million in the US, is one of the most popular social media platforms.
Surveys show that over 60% of US teens aged 13-17 use TikTok, with more than half using it daily. The lawsuit aims to end TikTok’s alleged “massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.” TikTok has faced similar fines in the UK and Europe.
Credit: BBC .
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cllyl14mr8lo