The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Act and violating an agreement it reached with another federal agency.
The complaint, filed jointly with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the US and the popular social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine whether – or how – TikTok will continue to operate. in place.
The latest lawsuit centers on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires apps and websites targeted by children to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using the private information of young children without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, Chief of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. said in a statement.
The US decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies complied with an earlier agreement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about the collection and use of personal information about children under 13.
That same year, Musical.ly — bought by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle those allegations. Both companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says has not happened.
In the complaint, the Department of Justice and the FTC allege that TikTok knowingly allowed children to create accounts and stored their personal information without notifying their parents. That practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit.
The two agencies claim that the information collected included in-app activities and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing data with other companies — such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer — to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be more on the platform, a practice that TikTok called “retargeting less active users”.
The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or get parental approval, using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into the millions.
After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and requested that they be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored.
In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under the age of 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content.
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