FTC and Department of Justice File Lawsuit Against TikTok for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Rights

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have initiated legal actions against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, accusing them of infringing on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This legislation mandates that digital entities must secure parental consent before collecting or employing the personal information of children below 13 years of age.

A recent announcement from the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection revealed that accusations suggest TikTok and ByteDance have consciously violated COPPA for “years,” despite a previous settlement with the FTC in 2019, where TikTok was fined $5.7 million and agreed to measures to restrict the platform’s use by children under 13.

According to the FTC, “By 2020, TikTok had implemented a practice of keeping accounts open for those children identified as under 13, only closing them if the individual explicitly acknowledged their age and met other strict criteria.” It was highlighted that TikTok’s human moderators reportedly spent a mere five to seven seconds evaluating each account, deciding its compliance with the child’s age regulations.

Despite internal concerns raised and policy adjustments aimed at removing the necessity for explicit age admission, TikTok and ByteDance continued exploiting the data of underage users for ad targeting. The situation was further aggravated by the absence of stringent age verification for new sign-ups through third-party services like Google and Instagram, as noted by the FTC.

The FTC also cast doubt on the efficacy of TikTok’s Kids Mode, a version intended to better align with COPPA requirements. It argued that Kids Mode collected excessive data, including detailed information about in-app behavior and personal identifiers that were utilized for profile building and subsequently shared with external entities to reduce user drop-off rates.

Even more troubling, when parents sought to terminate their children’s accounts, TikTok seemingly obstructed these requests, at times failing to act on them altogether, as per the FTC’s findings.

FTC Chair Lina Khan condemned TikTok’s actions, stating, “TikTok’s deliberate and repeated disregard for children’s privacy endangers the well-being of countless minors throughout the nation. The FTC is committed to leveraging its full powers to safeguard children’s online privacy, particularly against companies that exploit sophisticated digital tools for the purposes of closely monitoring children and capitalizing on their data.”

TikTok responded to these allegations in an email to TechCrunch: “These allegations, many of which reference historical events and practices, either misrepresent the facts or discuss matters we have since resolved. We take pride in our efforts to create a safe environment for children and are dedicated to ongoing enhancement of our platform. In line with this, we implement measures tailored for young users, remove suspected underage accounts proactively, and have introduced voluntary initiatives like default screen time limitations, Family Pairing, and increased privacy settings for minors.”

The proposed penalties by the FTC and Justice Department against TikTok and ByteDance include fines reaching up to $51,744 for each violation per day and a permanent injunction to ensure adherence to COPPA in the future.