DOJ and FTC Sue TikTok, ByteDance for Massive-Scale Children's Data Collection Violations

Aug 2, 2024, 05:33 PM

The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, accuses the social media giant of collecting data from users under the age of 13 without parental consent on a massive scale. This action follows a previous settlement TikTok had reached with another federal agency. The complaint highlights that TikTok knowingly allowed children under 13 to create accounts and interact with adult content, thereby breaching federal online privacy laws. The lawsuit marks a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government and the Chinese-owned app, which had sued the government three months ago over a law that could ban it across the country.